dũ thiện nhơn giao như nhập chi lan chi thất, dữ ác nhơn giao như nhập bào ngư chi tứ
Keep good company and you lodge among orchids; keep bad and you lodge in the fish-stall — one leaves you scented, the other reeking.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
dũ xu dũ hạ
The faster the run, the steeper the fall — decline accelerating on its own slope.
dưa La, cà Láng, cải Báng, tương Bần
La's pickled melon, Láng's eggplant, Báng's mustard greens, Bần's soybean sauce — the north's four famous tastes, each with its village.
dương chất hổ bì
A goat's marrow in a tiger's hide — the fearsome skin forgets the timid bones inside it.
dương thuận âm vi
Compliant in the light, contrary in the dark — a smooth face over a stubborn interior.
dương trình hiệu lực
Serving abroad to redeem one's fault — sent on a hard mission to earn back lost standing.
dương vây dương càng
Flaring fins and spreading claws — puffing oneself up to overawe others.
dưỡng hổ di hoạn
Rearing the tiger, storing the sorrow — kindness invested in the vicious matures into harm.
dưỡng lão khất ngôn
Keep the old and beg their words — board an elder and you board a lifetime's judgment.
dạ cá lòng chim
A fish's stomach and a bird's heart — appetite below, flightiness above; nothing to hold onto.
dạ không
The polite "no" — "dạ" cushions the refusal so it lands soft; bare "không" to an elder sounds curt.
dạ, cảm ơn
Yes, please.
dạo này thế nào?
How’s it going lately?
dạy con dạy thuở còn thơ, dạy vợ dạy thuở ban sơ mới về
Teach a child in the cradle and a wife on arrival — habits set at the threshold or never.
dạy con từ thuở còn thơ, dạy vợ từ thuở bơ vơ mới về
Teach a child in its infancy, a wife in her bewildered first days — guidance belongs at beginnings.
dạy khỉ trèo cây
Teaching the monkey to climb — instruction the pupil was born past needing.
dảk
«Dark», as mangled by a Telex keyboard slip — flagship of the 2021 dảk-dảk-bủh-bủh meme wave; tags dark humor or anything grimly funny while wearing the typo on purpose.
dấu hoa vun cây
Loving the flower, mound the tree — cherish the bloom by feeding its root; honor children by honoring their makers.
dấu kim tay áo
A needle hidden in the sleeve — malice carried in the softest fabric.
dầu hèn cũng ngựa nhà quan, kiều khấu rách nát, hồng nhan hãy còn
However shabby, still the mandarin's horse — harness in tatters, the fine head remains; breeding survives its bad luck.
dẫn xà nhập huyết
Leading the snake into the burrow — showing the villain the vein; treachery by guided tour.
dẫu rằng da trắng tóc mây Đẹp thì đẹp vậy, dạ này không ưa Vợ ta dù có quê mùa Thì ta vẫn cứ sớm trưa vui cùng
White-skinned and cloud-haired she may be — lovely, but not for this heart; my wife is country-plain, and morning to noon I am glad beside her.
dật gấu vá vai
Tear the hem to patch the shoulder — repairs that only move the hole.
dằn túi
to save some money just in case one may need it.
dể được, dể mất
"Things that are easily acquired, especially money, are just as easily lost or spent.".
dệt gấm thêu hoa
to embellish; to embroider
dị kỳ tướng tất hữu dị kỳ tài
A strange countenance houses a strange talent — the physiognomist's rule that odd faces hide odd gifts.
dịu kha
Dịu kha — soft, soothing, easy on the soul; the Gen-Z coinage for gentle vibes.
dốc bồ thương kẻ ăn đong
Emptying your bin, pity those who buy rice by the day — abundance should remember the hand-to-mouth.
dốt đặc cán mai
thick as a brick
dốt đặc như cán mai xay
Dense as a mattock handle — ignorance you could sharpen tools on.
dột từ nóc dột xuống
The leak starts at the roof-ridge and works down — rot begins at the top of the house.
dở khóc dở cười
Half crying, half laughing — a predicament neither face fits.
dở khôn dở dại
Half wise, half foolish — neither cleverness nor folly, but an unsettling in-between.
dở ngô dở ngọng
Talking saints and spirits — pronouncements delivered with an oracle's confidence and none of the credentials.
dục gia chi tội, hà hoạn vô từ,
To lay a charge, no shortage of words — the accuser bent on guilt always finds his phrasing.
dục tốc bất đạt
English equivalentː Haste makes waste.
dụng lòng không ai đụng thịt
It's the innards that carry the respect — at the feast, the offal platter is the etiquette; goodwill lives in the giblets.
dụng nhơn như dụng mộc
Use people as you use timber — no carpenter discards a whole trunk for one knot.
dụng như hổ, bất dụng như thử
Employed, a tiger; unemployed, a mouse — the same person is fierce or timid as they are trusted or shelved.
dứt cây ai nỡ dứt chồi
Fell the tree, but who could fell the shoot — severing the parents' bond, one still spares the child.
dứt dây động rừng
Pull one rattan strand and the forest stirs — no thread is unattached.
dừng ở đây
"Stop here" — the taxi/xe-ôm instruction; "cho xuống" (let me off) works when you're the passenger hopping out.
dửng-dưng như bánh-chưng ngày tết
Indifferent as bánh chưng at Tết — so abundant that no one turns a head; the proverbial cold shoulder.
dữ chưa
A Southern whistle of amazement — "well, look at THAT!" — for anything impressively intense, good or bad.
dữ như beo
Fierce as a panther — temper with claws.
dữ tu hành, hơn lành kẻ cướp
Better a wicked monk than a virtuous bandit — even fallen, the frame of discipline outranks the frame of crime.
dữ vậy
Southern "that intense, really?" — reacting to something that overshoots what you expected, from prices to tempers.
dự báo thời tiết hôm nay hoặc ngày mai thế nào?
What’s the weather forecast for today or tomorrow?
dựng cờ dựng truyện
Raising flags and spinning tales — fabricating a whole campaign of slander.
Đen tình, đỏ bạc
Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.
Đi một ngày đàng, học một sàng khôn
Travelling forms a young man.
Đi với bụt mặc áo cà sa, đi với ma mặc áo giấy
Pay a man back in the same coin.
Điếc không sợ súng
He that knows nothing doubts nothing.
Đoàn kết thì sống, chia rẽ thì chết
English equivalentː United we stand, divided we fall.
Đánh chết cái nết cũng không chừa
Close to the English saying: “Old habits die hard.”.
Đây là ... của tôi
This is my ...
Đây là những ... của tôi
These are my ...
Đã trót thì phải trét
If you sell the cow, you will sell her milk too.
Đèn nhà ai nấy sáng
Half the world not know how the other half lives.
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