v/v
initialism of về việc (“on the matter of”)
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
vai u thịt bắp
Humped shoulders and corded muscle — the body labor built.
vay chín giả mười
Borrow nine, repay ten — decency returns a little more than it took.
vay ha hả trả hi hi
Borrow with a roar of thanks, repay with a giggle — glad-handed at the asking, slippery at the settling.
vcl
initialism of vãi cả lồn
viễn thủy nan cứu cận hỏa
Distant water can't douse the near fire — the far kin, the far help, always a bucket too late.
việc gì làm được hôm nay chớ để ngày mai
Make hay while the sun shines.
việc làm thì nhác, việc ác thì siêng
Lazy at work, industrious at mischief — energy present, aimed wrong.
việc người thì sáng, việc mình thi quáng
Men are blind in their own cause.
vl
initialism of vãi lồn
voi thuộc voi, ngựa thuộc ngựa
Elephants know elephants, horses know horses — kind recognizes kind, thieves most fluently of all.
vong ân bội nghĩa
to forget and deny the favors of one's benefactor; to betray one's kindness
vu phản tội đồng
The false accuser inherits the charge — whatever sentence was sought lands on the one who lied for it.
vui đâu chức đó
Wherever the fun is, there he's posted — appetite for play assigning its own duty station.
vung tay quá trán
to overdo something, especially to overspend or to squander
vuýp
Top-tier, VIP-grade — an exaggerated phonetic respelling of "VIP", said admiringly (or mock-admiringly) of anything fancy.
vuốt mặt không nể mũi
Wiping the face without sparing the nose — a rebuke that forgets whose relatives are present.
vuốt râu hùm
to do something extremely dangerous
vx
Texting shortcut for “vẫn” — still. “vx ổn” = still fine.
vàng thật chẳng sợ chi lửa
True gold fears no fire — the genuine passes through any test unsinged.
vào sinh ra tử
to be involved in long, dangerous, life-or-death missions, especially military ones
váng mình sốt mẩy
Dizzy-headed and fever-skinned — out of sorts, aching and unwell.
vân vân mây mây
synonym of vân vân và mây mây
vân vân và mây mây
and so on and so forth; et cetera
vân đạm phong khinh
Pale clouds and light wind — composure worn like fair weather.
vé nguyên giá, vé nửa giá
full-fare ticket and half-fare ticket
vén mây bắn nhạn
Parting the clouds to shoot the goose — talent aiming high and hitting; ambition with the skill to match.
vênh-váo như bố vợ phải đấm
Smug as a father-in-law after the punch — pride bruised and doubled down; unearned swagger at its most infamous.
vì chồng nên phải gắng công Nào ai da sắt xương đồng chi đây
For a husband's sake she strains at the work — no one was born with iron skin and bronze bones.
vì sao
(adverb) why
vì đầu heo gánh gộc chuối
Carrying banana stumps for the pig's-head feast — dignity spent on an undignified errand, for duty's sake.
ví dầu con phụng bay qua Mẹ nói con gà con cũng nói theo
Should a phoenix sail past, mother calls it a chicken — and the child agrees — filial deference measured against the evidence of one's own eyes.
ví dầu cầu ván
'Suppose the bridge were planked...' — the lullaby's soft once-upon-a-wish for lovelier things.
ví dầu cầu ván đóng đinh Cầu tre lắc lẻo gập ghềnh khó đi. Khó đi mẹ dắt con đi Con đi trường học mẹ đi trường đời
Though the plank bridge is nailed firm and the bamboo bridge sways and pitches — hard going, mother leads the child: the child walks to school, mother walks the school of life.
ví dầu mẹ chẳng có chi Chỉ con với mẹ chẳng khi nào rời
Though mother owns nothing at all, mother and child are never parted — poverty cannot divide that pair.
vò đầu bứt tai
to not know how to deal with a complicated problem or affair
vô cai quản bất đắc hành hạ
No authority, no ordering about — command runs only inside its own fence.
vô công bất thụ lộc
No service, no stipend — reward accepted without work shames the taker.
vô cố nhi đắc thiên kim bất tao đại phước tất hữu đại họa
A thousand gold unearned: if not great luck, then great disaster — the causeless windfall always invoices later.
vô hoạn nạn, bất anh hùng
No trial, no hero — greatness is minted only in misfortune.
vô hữu bất như kỉ dã
Befriend none beneath yourself — the old counsel to climb by company; friends are ladders or weights.
vô phược kê chi lực
Not strength enough to tie a chicken — feebleness in its proverbial unit.
vô quan nhứt thân khinh, hữu tử vạn sự túc
No office, a light body; a child, and all is complete — the two blessings: freedom from rank, fullness of family.
vô sản toàn thế giới, đoàn kết lại
Workers of the world, unite!
vô sản tất cả các nước, đoàn kết lại
Workers of the world, unite!
vô thưởng vô phạt
inconsequential; meaningless
vô tiểu nhơn bất thành quân tử
No small men, no gentlemen — each rank exists by the other's contrast; the ladder needs both ends.
vô trung sanh hữu
Conjuring something from nothing — fabrication as creation myth.
vô tửu bất thành lễ
No wine, no ceremony — the Vietnamese rite runs on the cup; betel opens, liquor seals.
vô vận bất năng tự đạt
Without luck, no one arrives — effort rows the boat, but fortune is the tide.
vô địa lập chùy
No ground to plant an awl — poverty measured to the awl-point.
vô độc bất trượng phu
No ruthlessness, no great man — the cynic's rule that greatness requires a hard heart.
võng anh đi trước, võng nàng theo sau
His palanquin ahead, hers following behind — the wedding procession's picture of paired honor.
văn chương đựng không đầy lá mít, võ thì đá không bể nổi mảnh sành, nghe vua treo bảng cũng xòng xành ra thi. Bảng đề không biết chữ chi, mài nghiên, mút bút có khi hết ngày
Letters that wouldn't fill a jackfruit leaf, force that couldn't crack a potsherd — yet hearing of the exam, off he swaggers to sit it — the immortal satire of the unqualified candidate.
văn dĩ tải đạo
Literature exists to carry the Way — writing as the vehicle of principle.
văn hay chẳng luận đặt dài
Good writing needs no length — quality declares itself in the first hearing.
văn thi phú lục chẳng hay Trở về làng cũ, học cày cho xong
No luck with essays, verse or rhyme-prose — go home to the old village and learn to plow properly — the failed scholar's honest retreat.
văn trị võ công
Civil order and martial merit — governing well in peace and prevailing in war.
vĩnh kết đồng tâm
Forever knotted, one heart — the wedding wish stitched into every red banner.
vạ gió tai bay
Misfortune on the wind, calamity flying past — disaster that simply lands, unaddressed to anyone.