qtqđ
Texting shortcut for “quá trời quá đất” — an awful lot; extremely (Southern-flavored exclamation).
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
qua cầu ngả nón trông cầu, cầu bao nhiêu nhịp, ngả sầu bấy nhiêu
Crossing the bridge I tip my hat and gaze — as many spans as the bridge has, that many sorrows tip with it.
qua cầu rút ván
To discard the people who helped you once you no longer need them; to destroy the way back after getting what you wanted.
qua ngày đoạn tháng
Getting through days and finishing months — merely subsisting, marking time.
qua sông thì phải lụy đò
To cross the river you must humor the ferryman — needing help means bowing to the helper.
qua sông đến bến
Cross the river, reach the wharf — every passage has its landing; endure to arrival.
qua điền bất nạp lý, lý hạ bất chỉnh quan
Tie no sandal in the melon field, straighten no hat beneath the plum — avoid even the posture of theft.
qua đình ngả nón trông đình, đình bao nhiêu ngói, thương mình bấy nhiêu
Passing the đình I tip my hat and gaze — as many tiles as the roof holds, that much I love you — devotion counted in roof-tiles.
qua đò khinh sóng
To scorn a danger once it is safely behind you — becoming dismissive or arrogant after hardship has passed.
quai xanh vành chảo
Kettle-handles and pan-rims — a shrew with a tongue like clattering cookware.
quan pháp vô thân
The law knows no kin — public rule admits no family discount.
quan quỉ quyệt, dân thì thế
Officials scheme, the people dodge — governance as a contest of tricks and evasions.
quan san cách trở
Passes and peaks between — long distance and hard separation.
quan tha nha bắt
The mandarin pardons, the clerks arrest — mercy above, extortion below.
quan tám cũng ừ, quan tư cũng gật
Eight strings? Yes. Four strings? Nod — assent calibrated to whoever is paying.
quan xa bản nha gần
The mandarin is far; the clerks are near — the extortion you meet is always local.
quan yêu bạn ghét
The official's favorite, the colleagues' target — patronage from above purchases envy alongside.
quang minh chính đại
high-principled; open and aboveboard; just and honorable; frank and righteous; without artifice
quanh đi quẩn lại
Round and round the same circle — coming back again and again to the same few things.
quay đầu là bờ
it is never too late to stop generating negative karma (tạo nghiệp) and start seeking enlightenment instead
quen hơi bén tiếng
Grown used to each other's air and voice — familiarity warming into attachment.
quen nhà mạ, lạ nhà chồng
At ease in mother's house, a guest in the husband's — familiarity is an address, not a virtue.
quen thói hành hung
Practiced in strong-arming — violence worn smooth by habit.
quyến anh rủ yến
Luring orioles and beckoning swallows — the seducer's art of coaxing women.
quyến gió rủ mây
Coaxing the wind and beckoning clouds — luring someone into an affair.
quyết chiến quyết thắng
Resolved to fight, resolved to win — the fighting slogan of total commitment.
quyền cao chức trọng
Fixing a sandal in the melon field — innocence in the exact posture of theft.
quyền rơm vạ đá
Straw authority, stone liability — all of power's blame with none of its weight.
quyền sinh quyền sát
The power of life and death — authority absolute enough to spare or destroy at will.
quá cổ lôi môn
Drumming at the thunder-god's gate — flaunting your noise at the master of noise.
quá hậu nải tri tiền sự thố, lão lai phương giác thiểu thì phi
Only after the fault do we see the error; only in age, the follies of youth — hindsight arrives on its own schedule.
quá khẩu thành tàn
Past the mouth, it's ash — pleasure expires at the swallow; the feast's whole glory is one gulp long.
quá lắm cũng chỉ
At the very most, only — it goes no further than that.
quá lứa lỡ thì
Past the season, missed the market — beyond the customary age for marrying.
quá mù ra mưa
Past mist it turns to rain — a thing pushed past its limit becomes something else altogether.
quá tam ba bận
after three attempts, the chance of the success decreases greatly
quá tắc vật đạn cải
When making a mistake, do not be afraid to correct it.
quán Sở lầu Tần
Chu inns and Qin towers — houses of assignation; the lodgings of passing love.
quân bất hí ngôn
A monarch should not say anything in jest
quân hồi vô lệnh
A rout without orders — troops breaking for home before any command; total disarray.
quân lệnh như sơn
Military orders stand like mountains — a command once given cannot be moved.
quân sư quạt mo
A palm-fan strategist — the adviser whose clever schemes are worth his mo-leaf fan.
quân ta bắn quân mình
friendly fire
quân ta đánh thắng quân mình
friendly fire
quân tử bất khí
a gentleman is no tool
quân tử chu nhi bất tị, tiểu nhân tị nhi bất chu
The gentleman embraces all without favoritism; the small man favors his own and embraces none.
quân tử cố cùng, tiểu nhơn cùng tư lạm hỉ
The gentleman holds firm in poverty; the small man in poverty helps himself — want is character's examination hall.
quân tử gian nan, hồng nhan bạc mệnh
The gentleman meets hardship as the beauty meets a thin fate — excellence of either kind is billed for in suffering.
quân tử khả khi dỉ kì phương
A gentleman can be deceived — but only along the path of reason; his good faith is the opening.
quân tử lao tâm tiểu nhơn lao lực
The gentleman toils in mind, the small man in muscle — each rank pays its own coin of labor.
quân tử là quân tử Tàu, ăn cơm thì ít, ăn rau thì nhiều
A 'gentleman' of the Chinese-novel sort — little rice, plenty of vegetables — the mock title for genteel poverty.
quân tử nhất ngôn
I give you my word; you have my word
quân tử thánh nhơn chi mĩ
The gentleman completes others' good — never their evil; he builds what envy would tear.
quân tử thực vô cầu bảo, cư vô cầu an
The gentleman eats without seeking plenty, dwells without seeking ease — sufficiency is his whole appetite.
quân tử trả thù, mười năm chưa muộn
revenge is a dish best served cold
quân tử tại giả, tiểu nhơn tại triều
Gentlemen in the fields, small men at court — the age turned upside down, rank and place traded.
quân tử viện bào trù
The gentleman keeps clear of the kitchen — great matters upstairs, no accounting of morsels below.
quân tử ưu đạo bất ưu bần
The gentleman worries over the way, not over want — poverty of purse never troubled him, poverty of principle does.
quân tử ứ hự thì đau
A cleared throat wounds the gentleman — to the honorable, the gentlest reproach lands like a blow.
quân vô hí ngôn
A monarch should not say anything in jest