đường đi ở miệng
The road lives in your mouth — ask, and any strange town becomes navigable.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
đường đường chính chính
just and dignified
được cá quên nơm
Fish landed, trap forgotten — gratitude expiring at the moment of success.
được làm vua, thua làm giặc
might makes right; the winner is always in the right and the loser is always in the wrong.
được lòng ta, xót-xa lòng người
Near the rich, a toothache from their young rice; near thieves, a broken back from their beatings — proximity to either costs.
được mùa cau đau mùa lúa
A good areca year hurts the rice — the seasons trade their favors; no year blesses both.
được voi đòi tiên
Given something great, to immediately demand something even greater — insatiable escalating demands.
được vạ thì má đã sưng
By the time damages are won, the cheek has long been swollen — compensation never undoes the blow.
được ăn cả, ngã về không
it's all-or-nothing; you either go big or go home
được ăn được nói, được gói đem về
Getting to eat, to speak, and to carry a parcel home — the full sweep of a privileged visit; every advantage at once.
đại khí vãn thành
Great vessels finish late — the largest talents are longest on the wheel.
đại mộc lưu giang, bất đắc hồi cố
Great timber down the river never returns — the drifted life, past rowing home.
đại ngôn bất tàm
Big talk, no blush — bragging past the reach of shame.
đại ngôn vô thật
Big words, no substance — the boast is the inventory.
đại nhơn năng dung tiểu nhơn
The great contain the small — capacity is what magnanimity literally means.
đại phú do thiên, tiểu phú do cần
Great wealth is heaven's, small wealth is diligence's — the fortune you can actually earn is the modest one.
đại vi đài vi các, tiểu vi đống vi lương
Big timbers make towers, small ones make beams — every size of person has a load-bearing place.
đạn đâu bắn sẻ, gươm đâu chém ruồi
No bullet for a sparrow, no sword for a fly — heavy weapons decline small game.
đạo ngô ác giả thị ngô sư, đạo ngô hảo giả thị ngô tặc
Who names my faults is my teacher; who sings my praises is my thief — flattery burgles, criticism tutors.
đạo thính đồ thuyết
Heard on the road, told on the road — news that never dismounted to check itself.
đạp gai lấy gai mà lể
Step on a thorn, dig it out with a thorn — the wound prescribes its own instrument; poison drives out poison.
đấm ngầm chết voi
A hidden punch fells the elephant — the unseen blow beats the big one.
đất chật người đông
packed like sardines
đất có lề quê có thói
the customs and habits of each region must be respected
đất có quê lề có thói
Every soil its region, every custom its rule — cross a border and the rulebook changes.
đất có tuần, dân có vận
Land has its cycles, people their fortunes — luck runs on rotation for soil and souls alike.
đất cũ đãi người mới
Old soil favors the newcomer — the fresh arrival prospers where the settled plod; beginner's luck, in real estate.
đất lành chim đậu
a safe haven; a place with beneficial living conditions, suitable for growth
đất lề quê thói
the customs and habits of each region must be respected
đất nặn nên bụt
Clay kneaded into a Buddha — the humblest stuff shaped into the holiest form.
đất Quảng Nam chưa mưa đã thấm, rượu Hồng Đào chưa nhấm đã say
Quảng Nam's earth soaks before the rain falls; Hồng Đào wine intoxicates before the sip — a homeland that moves you in advance.
đất sỏi có chạch vàng
Gravel soil hides a golden loach — treasure turns up in the least promising ground.
đất ta bể bạc, non vàng, bể bạc Nam Hải, non vàng Bồng Miêu
Our land is a silver sea and a golden mountain — silver in the Nam Hải fisheries, gold at Bồng Miêu — the country's wealth mapped in a couplet.
đất thổ-công, sông hà-bá
The land has its Earth Lord, the river its Water Lord — every domain is already governed; respect the local powers.
đấu tranh thì biết tránh đâu
If you fight the system, where will you hide? — a resigned joke built on the lái pair "đấu tranh" (to struggle) ↔ "tránh đâu" (hide where); attributed to the Bút Tre folk-verse tradition.
đầu bẹt cá trê
Flat-headed as a catfish — an unlovely crown, unkindly noted.
đầu chày đít thớt
Pestle-head, chopping-block bottom — the lowly ones ordered about and worn down by everyone else's work.
đầu chẳng phải lại phải tai
Not the head's fault, yet the ear pays — punishment landing on the adjacent innocent.
đầu cua tai nheo
details in a story or event
đầu gà má lợn
The chicken's head and the pig's cheek — the feast's ranking cuts; honor served by the platter.
đầu gối tay ấp
Knee for a pillow, arm for a blanket — marriage at its closest and warmest.
đầu hai thứ tóc
A head of two-colored hair — old enough to have seen life; seasoned by years.
đầu môi chót lưỡi
Lip-edge and tongue-tip talk — words offered from the mouth only, not the heart.
đầu Ngô mình Sở
A Ngô head on a Sở body — parts from different kingdoms, assembled without agreement.
đầu thử kị khí
Hold the throw for the vase's sake — the rat spared because of what surrounds it.
đầu to óc quả nho
Big head, grape-sized brain — all skull and no thought.
đầu trâu mặt ngựa
a thug (a criminal who treats others violently or roughly)
đầu tròn gót vuông
Round head, square heels — a person complete; humanity in its standard issue.
đầu óc ngu si, tứ chi phát triển
apparently healthy, stout and sturdy even, but very stupid
đầu đen máu đỏ
Black heads and red blood — the people, counted by what every one of them shares.
đậu phộng rau má
synonym of đụ má (“fuck”)
đậu xanh rau má
synonym of đụ má
đắc chi dị, thất chi dị
Easily got, easily lost — the effortless acquisition keeps its own exit visa.
đắc Lũng vọng Thục
Winning Long and eyeing Shu — each conquest merely relocating the appetite.
đắc sũng ưu nhục
Favor received, disgrace to fear — the favorite's pillow is stuffed with worry.
đắng cay cũng thể ruột rà, ngọt ngào cho lắm cũng là người dưng. Em chồng ở với chị dâu, coi chừng kẻo nó giết nhau có ngày. Con cô, con cậu thì xa, con chú, con bác thật là anh em
Bitter, it is still your own gut; sweet as they come, strangers stay strangers — the kin-verse with its warning appendix.
đắng cũng là ruột, ngọt cũng người dưng
Bitter, still your gut; sweet, still a stranger — kin's harsh truth outranks outsiders' honey.
đắng như bồ hòn
Bitter as soap-nut — the proverbial worst taste, swallowed whole.
đắt cá hơn rẻ thịt
Better fish dear than meat cheap — pay for the right thing, not less for the wrong one.
đắt là quế ế là củi
Selling well, it's cinnamon; unsold, it's firewood — the same bark, priced by demand alone.