PCCC
initialism of phòng cháy chữa cháy (“fire prevention and control”)
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
pha ke
Fake; counterfeit or phony — the English word "fake" respelled the way Vietnamese pronounces it.
phanh bụng phanh ngực
Baring belly and chest — laying the whole matter open to view.
phanh xích lô
A loud, smacking kiss — named after the squeal of a cyclo's brakes.
phi công trẻ lái máy bay bà già
Describes a younger man who loves or dates an older woman.
phi cổ bất thành kim
there is no present without the past
phi vũ tình
Love in drifting rain — a tryst that never arrives; waiting in the drizzle for one who does not come.
phi đế phi bá
Neither emperor nor hegemon — holding power without the title to match.
phim mì ăn liền
Instant-noodle cinema — the quick, cheap commercial films of early-90s Vietnam; schlock made to sell fast.
phong ba bão táp không bằng ngữ pháp Việt Nam
Vietnamese grammar is very hard to learn.
phong quang phục khánh
Sweeping the hall to welcome the celebration — clearing every grudge so the rightful occasion can shine.
phong thổ kiến quốc
Granting fiefs to found the realm — parceling land to vassals to raise a state.
phong tục tập quán
habits and customs
phong, lao, cổ, lại, tứ chứng nan y
Palsy, consumption, blindness, leprosy — the four ailments past medicine, heaven's own afflictions.
phu một hoàn thê
The husband gone, all passes to the wife — widowhood's claim on what the marriage built.
phu phụ hòa, gia đạo thành
Husband and wife in harmony, the family way complete — concord at the hearth is the whole foundation.
phu tử tùng tử
The widow follows the son — the third of the three followings, the old code's last clause.
phu xướng phụ tùy
The husband calls, the wife follows — the old household's call-and-response of authority.
phàm hí vô ích
All play is profitless — the child-sage's verdict to Confucius; and some games cost fortunes.
phá gia chi tử
child who squanders the family fortune
pháp bất gía ư quân tử, lễ bất chấp ư tiểu nhơn
Law doesn't add to the gentleman, nor ritual bind the boor — rules assume the one and despair of the other.
Phây búc
Facebook — the platform's name respelled the way Vietnamese pronounces it; often shortened to "Phây".
phép vua thua lệ làng
even the monarch's law loses to a village's norms
phòng bệnh hơn chữa bệnh
it's better to prevent diseases than to wait for them to happen and then treat them
phòng điều khiển tín hiệu
signal box; signal control room
phóng nhanh vượt ẩu
Speeding and reckless weaving — driving without a shred of self-restraint.
phóng tài hoá, thu nhân tâm
Scatter wealth, harvest hearts — generosity converted at the best exchange rate there is.
phông bạt
All facade — flexing a lifestyle or generosity that’s pure backdrop, no substance.
phù ... diệt
the movement/campaign in question is all about helping ... defeat ...
phùng mang trợn mắt
Gills puffed and eyes bulging — straining far past one's strength.
phùng mồm trợn mắt
Mouth agape and eyes popping — astonishment written across the whole face.
phú diệc gioa, quí diệc thê
Wealth trades its friends, rank trades its wife — promotion as serial abandonment.
phú quí bất qui cố hương, như ý cẩm dạ hành
Rich and never returning home is brocade worn in the dark — success needs its native audience.
phú quí các hữu định phận
Wealth and rank are pre-assigned — the portion was written before the striving.
phú quí đa nhơn hội, bần cùng thân thích ly
Wealth gathers crowds; poverty scatters kin — the census of your fortunes taken at your door.
phú quới sanh lễ nghĩa
Wealth begets manners — money is the finishing school the coarse suddenly graduate from.
phú đữ quới thị nhơn chi sở dục, bần dữ tiện thị nhơn chi sở ố,
All crave wealth and rank, all dread want and lowliness — craving rarely granted, dread rarely spared.
phúc bất trùng lai, họa vô đơn chí
Blessings do not come in pair, disasters do not come singly; opportunity seldom knocks twice, misfortunes never come singly
phúc thủy nan thâu
Spilled water can't be gathered — what's poured out is past retrieving.
phúc đức tại mẫu
Blessing and virtue come from the mother — the household's moral estate is her bequest.
Phương Cao kén ngựa
Phương Cao choosing horses — judging the essence and ignoring surface details, like the legendary horse-picker.
phước bất cẩu cầu, họa vô cẫu miễn
Blessing won't be begged, calamity won't be dodged — both answer to conduct, not petitions.
phước chí tâm linh, họa lai thần ám,
Luck arriving sharpens the mind; disaster arriving darkens it — fortune tunes the very wits that must manage it.
phước chủ may thầy
The patient's luck makes the doctor's name — recovery credits the prescription either way.
phước đức khán tử tôn
Read the ancestors' merit in the grandchildren — the estate of virtue, audited two generations on.
phượng hoàng ở chốn cheo leo, sa cơ lỡ vận phải theo đàn gà. Bao giờ gió thuận mưa hòa, thay lông đổi cánh lại ra phượng hoàng
The phoenix on its high crag, fallen on hard times, must run with the chickens — but come fair wind and rain, it molts and is phoenix again — nobility in eclipse.
phải người phải ta
Right by them, right by us — the settlement both families can sign; fairness in both directions.
phản cầu chư thân
Turn and seek it in yourself — the archer who misses blames no target.
phản thần tặc tử
Rebel minister, bandit son — a traitor to lord or family.
phấn giồi mặt, ai lấy phấn mà giồi chơn
Powder is for faces — nobody rouges their feet; adornment goes where the world will look.
phấn son tô điểm sơn hà, làm cho rỡ mặt đàn bà nước Nam
Powder and rouge adorn the rivers and mountains — bringing glory to the women of the South — the verse of feminine patriotism.
phần thư khanh nho
Burning the books and burying the scholars — Qin's purge; contempt for learning and the learned.
phận gái theo chồng
A daughter's portion follows her husband — the old settlement of a woman's lot.
phật tại tâm
The Buddha dwells in the heart — worship is interior; goodness needs no altar.
phỉ chí cũng cam
Content if the will is served — resolved to see it through, whatever it costs, so the heart is satisfied.
phụ mẫu tồn bất khả viễn du,
While parents live, wander no farther than word can reach — the filial tether on every journey.
phụ trái tử hoàn
The father's debt, the son repays — inherit the estate, inherit its ledger.
phụ từ tử hiếu
A kind father, a devoted child — each half of the bond breeds the other.
phụ tử bất đồng tịch
Father and son share no mat — the old etiquette of rank between generations.
phục dược bách lỏa, bất như độc ngọa
A hundred pills are less than sleeping alone — the physician's bluntest prescription for长 life.