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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
Last night bailing water by the đình, I left my shirt on the lotus branch — if you found it, give it back; or keep it as my pledge — the most beloved courtship verse in Vietnamese.
Begging pity by night, strutting by day — servile in the dark, insolent in the light.
The tiger dies leaving its skin; a person dies leaving their name — choose which fame survives you.
A tiger robbed of its meat — rage on four feet; no safe approach.
The gasp of relief after a close call — "my soul just came back". Said with a hand on the chest once the danger has passed.
Where mint sprouts, perilla sprouts too — one appetite's success invites the neighbor's imitation.
Eye-magnet quality — visuals that pull your gaze and keep it; said of outfits, thumbnails, and displays that simply will not be scrolled past.
Hút độc rắn — 'sucking snake venom': slang for oral sex.
Dreading death, clinging to life — the instinct all creatures share, and honor sometimes overrules.
indicating the action one's about to state is not necessary: no use
The winnings don't cover the wear — victory at a net loss.
Spoiled flour, spoiled sugar — a job botched past saving.
In the village, nothing outranks age — the hamlet's law: gray hair above every title.
that will be explained in more detail later
Harm others and harm answers — retribution pays in this life, not the next.
The crabapple bends its crown toward the eastern neighbor — a beauty inclining toward an admirer; from Truyện Kiều.
to jerk the chin so as to signal an occurrence or command, otherwise to display arrogance
The whole jumbled lot — everything shoveled in together, hodgepodge upon hodgepodge.
The last doctor gets the credit — whoever's medicine coincides with the cure is called the genius.
The young are to be feared — respect the ones coming up; Confucius said it of a child.
the later generations are very capable; never underestimate someone younger than you
a rule which dictates that black side goes first
See you tomorrow.
see you later; see you
See you soon.
"What's the total?" — asked at the end of a meal or a cart-load; "hết" totals everything up where "bao nhiêu tiền" prices one thing.
Out of plays — no tricks, arguments, or moves left; the moment you fold your hand.
The fast over, the monk walks on bare ground — reverence lasts exactly as long as the ritual pays.
Beyond saving — a case (a crush, a haircut, a friend's taste) so far gone that rescue is officially off the table.
Rice gone, running loose — the empty larder sends everyone into the streets.
Beyond words; nothing left to add — so complete (good or absurd) that even the dipping sauce ran out.
Lean meat gone, scrape the bones — extraction continuing past the last worthwhile layer.
"Battery's dead" — phone, earbuds, or (jokingly) yourself at day's end; the modern excuse that everyone accepts.
Southern for "fantastic, top-notch" — retro slang that never died; praise with a grin built into it.
there's no cure
The sticky rice finished, the business is finished — the courtesy ends when the feeding does.
Meme misspelling of "hài hước" (funny) — used to call something clown-level ridiculous rather than genuinely witty.
security alarm; burglar alarm
intercom system
central heating system
The shrimp clan wears its dirt above its head — a house whose disorder sits in plain view; the innards worn as a crown.
The tiger painting that wouldn't come out — a scheme that died on the easel.
Skin and stripes paint easily, bones don't; faces are known easily, hearts not — the inside of tiger and man alike resists the brush.
Painted a tiger, produced a dog — ambition's masterpiece, delivered as farce.
Calamity rises inside the screen-wall — the house's ruin is plotted in its own inner rooms.
When calamity arrives, the wits go dark — in the thick of trouble, the mind can't find its own door; blessing's opposite, where luck sharpens thought.
Painting the talisman you wear yourself — issuing one's own credentials.
Fortune and misfortune have no gate — each is invited by its own tenant.
Studying like a chicken sparring a wall — effort loud, progress none.
Learning from the master is less than learning from friends — peers teach what lecterns can't.
Learning from the master is not learning from friends — the peer teaches what the lectern can't.
The Quảng student came for the examinations, saw a Huế girl, and could not make himself leave — scholarship's oldest hazard.
Study makes the talent, the exam makes the fate — learning proposes, the examination hall disposes.
Oil onto the fire — goading a blaze that needed calming.
Borrowing a comb from a monk — supply requested at the one address certain to lack it.
Pot ruined, grab the trivet-ring — salvage snatched from the wreck.
The fox borrowing the tiger's terror — swagger rented from the power standing behind.
Each soul keeps its own — every man for himself; mind your own fate.
Hồng Hài Nhi — 'Red Boy' from Journey to the West, repurposed for a young man dating a much older woman.
A rosy face, a thin fate — beauty shadowed by misfortune; the lovely are born to suffer.