chuông chẳng đánh chẳng kêu, đèn chẳng khêu chẳng sáng
An unstruck bell is silent; an untrimmed lamp is dark — merit unannounced goes unknown.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
chuông khánh còn chẳng ăn ai, nữa là mảnh chĩnh
Even bell and chime win no notice — what chance has a potsherd — if the distinguished go unheard, the ordinary needn't ask.
chuông kêu thử tiếng
Test the bell by its ring — quality auditioned before purchase; people, by their speech.
chuẩn bài
Exactly by the book, perfectly on point — an approving stamp that something was said or done just the way it should be.
chuẩn cơm mẹ nấu
Up to mom's-cooking standard — exactly right; the authentic, satisfying real deal.
chuỗi cửa hàng đồ ăn nhanh
fast-food chain
chuột bầy làm chẳng nên hang
A swarm of mice digs no burrow — without a leader, many hands build nothing.
chuột sa chình nếp
A mouse dropped into the sticky-rice crock — the poor man landed in a rich marriage.
chuột sa chĩnh gạo
A mouse dropped into the rice crock — poverty landing in plenty.
chuột sa hũ nếp
A mouse fallen into the sticky-rice jar — landing in luxury, especially by marrying into money.
chà bá lửa
Absolutely humongous — "chà bá" (huge) cranked up one more notch, with "lửa" (fire) as a pure intensifier.
chà đồ nhôm
To pilfer things from one's own home to sell, usually for pocket money or a vice — nói lái of "chôm đồ nhà" (steal the house's stuff). Southern, humorous.
chàng đâu thiếp đó
Where he goes, she follows — the old wifely rule of following the husband everywhere.
chào buổi sáng
good morning
chán như con gián
Bored out of your mind — the rhyme (chán/gián) does the comedy.
cháu bà nội tội bà ngoại
The paternal grandma's darling is the maternal grandma's chore — the grandchild's two courts, one holding the honor, one the work.
cháy hết mình
To burn all of yourself — perform, play, or party with nothing held back; the stage-culture ideal of total commitment.
cháy nhà mới ra mặt chuột
Only when something bad happens; the skeleton(s) in the closet will be revealed.
cháy nhà ra mặt chuột
When the house burns, the rats show their faces — crisis flushes out who and what was hidden.
cháy tài khoản
A burned account — losses (usually on margin) deep enough to effectively wipe the balance; also any gaming or betting account run to zero.
châm dầu vào lửa
to add more anger to an argument or quarrel
chân bùn tay lấm
Mud to the shins, grime to the hands — labor's honest uniform.
chân chỉ hạt bột
Homely as flour-bead fringe — plain, decent and hardworking.
chân chỉ hạt trai
Neat as pearl-beaded fringe — prim, plain, diligent and honest to a fault.
chân mây cuối trời
far-flung, faraway, distant, remote
chân nam chân chiêu
Left foot crossing right — the drunkard's gait, legs negotiating separately.
chân nam đá chân chiêu
misconstruction of chân đăm đá chân chiêu
chân nam đá chân xiêu
misconstruction of chân đăm đá chân chiêu
chân trời góc bể
(noun) far-flung, faraway, distant, remote place
chân đăm đá chân chiêu
walking very unstably; drunk as a lord
chân đất mắt toét
Bare feet and bleary eyes — dirt-poor and country-raw.
châu chấu thấy sáng đèn
A grasshopper at the lamp flame — dazzled by glitter, blind to the burning.
châu chấu đá xe
a grasshopper kicking the cart; a weaker side opposing a much stronger side
châu về Hợp Phố
The pearls return to Hợp Phố — what was lost finds its way back to its rightful owner.
châu-chấu đá voi
A grasshopper kicking the elephant — defiance several weight-classes up.
chè ngon khan cổ, thuốc ngon lắm đờm
Fine tea parches the throat, fine tobacco thickens the phlegm — the finest pleasures exact their tax.
chèo non vượt bể
Green oars over open sea — inexperience navigating the largest water.
chèo xuôi mát mái
Rowing with the current, oars at ease — yield to the stream and the passage is smooth.
chém tre không dè đầu mặt
Chopping bamboo without minding the knots — barging ahead with no regard for anyone in the way.
chén chú chén anh
toasting and drinking with each other
chén trong hú chén ngoài
The inner cup hails the outer — one drink summoning the next past all measure.
chích khuyễn phệ Nghiêu
Zhi's dog barking at Emperor Yao — a servant loyal to its own master, however base; barking at the stranger, not the sage.
chín người, mười ý
The more people you include, the more opinions and debates you will have.
chín tháng mười ngày
Nine months and ten days — the traditional count of a full pregnancy; shorthand for everything a mother carries before a child is even born.
chính đại quang minh
Upright and luminous — open and honorable, with nothing to hide.
chó chui gầm chạn
A dog crouching under the dish-cupboard — a man living meekly under his in-laws' roof, stripped of any say.
chó chê mèo lắm lông
the dog calling the cat furry
chó chê mèo mửa
very bad; horrid
chó chẳng chê chủ nghèo
A dog never scorns a poor master — loyalty without a means test.
chó có váy lĩnh
When dogs wear silk skirts — the folk calendar's date for the impossible.
chó cậy gần nhà
The dog is bold near its house — courage indexed to distance from home.
chó cậy gần nhà, gà cậy gần chuồng
The dog is brave near home, the hen near her coop — courage, fully mapped, is geography.
chó cậy nhà, gà cậy vườn
The dog trusts its house, the hen her garden — everyone is bravest on home ground.
chó cắn ma
A dog barking at ghosts — raising alarms in the empty dark.
chó cắn quanh
A dog biting in circles — quarrels that orbit without landing.
chó cứ sủa còn đoàn người cứ đi
the dogs bark, but the caravan goes on
chó ghẻ có mỡ đằng đuôi
Even the mangy dog keeps fat at its tail — the shabbiest estate hides some scrap of worth.
chó giữ xương
A dog guarding its bone — possession with teeth bared.
chó gầy xấu mặt nhà nuôi
A scrawny dog shames the household — the pet's ribs tell on the master's table.
chó hở môi, răng lạnh
When the dog's lip curls back, its teeth go cold — neighbors are lips and teeth: lose one, the other freezes.
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