cọc tìm trâu
The stake goes looking for the buffalo — things done backwards, against the natural order.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
cố cùng liều thân
Cornered into staking one's very life — desperate, with nothing left to lose.
cố ư trung tất hình ư ngoại
What is stored within must show without — the inside writes itself on the face.
cốt nhục tương tàn
Flesh and bone devouring each other — kin turned on kin.
cổ kim
past and present; then and now
cổ tay em trắng như ngà, con mắt em liếc như là dao cau. Miệng cười như thể hoa ngâu, cái khăn đội đầu như thể hoa sen
Your wrist white as ivory, your glance a slicing areca knife, your smile a ngâu blossom, your headscarf a lotus — the inventory of infatuation.
cộng tươi
Cộng tươi — a fresh-faced heartthrob; a boy so clean-cut he looks factory-new.
cột đổ nhà xiêu
Pillars down, house aslant — a family estate in collapse.
cờ bạc là bác thằng bần Cửa nhà bán hết, tra chân vào cùm
Gambling is Brother Poverty's own uncle — the house sold off, and your feet in the stocks — the definitive verse against cards and dice.
cờ bạc sanh trộm cướp
Gambling breeds thieving — losses deep enough turn hands crooked.
cờ bạc về sáng
Gambling turns at dawn — the table's luck arrives when the lamps burn out; ruin keeps late hours.
cờ gian bạc lận
Cheating chess and crooked cards — games rigged to empty the other man's purse.
cờ tay ai người ấy phất, đèn nhà ai nhà ấy rạng
Whoever holds the flag waves it; whoever's house the lamp is in, it brightens — each to their own charge and glory.
cờ về tay ai nấy phất
Whoever holds the flag waves it — authority belongs to the hand it lands in.
cờ đến tay
The flag come to your hand — the moment of authority arrived; wave it.
cục tạ
Affectionately, one’s ball-and-chain — a partner jokingly called a heavy burden.
của chìm của nổi
Sunken wealth and floating wealth — assets seen and unseen; the visible fortune and the buried one.
của chẳng ngon chớ nào lỗ miệng
The gift needn't be delicious to honor the mouth — devotion, not delicacy, gives the offering its worth.
của chẳng ngon nhiều con cũng hết
Plain food vanishes where children are many — hungry numbers make any dish precious.
của chồng công vợ
The husband's earnings, the wife's keeping — property is his making and her minding, and both have the use of it.
của gối đầu bà già
Wealth under an old woman's pillow — savings kept where no saving is.
của là nuốm ruột
Property is a knot of one's gut — people grieve money as flesh; some die of the grieving.
của người phúc ta
Their goods, our blessing — profiting from what cost us nothing.
của thiên giả địa
Heaven's goods return to earth — ill-got wealth finds its way back out.
của thiên, trả địa
Close to the English saying: “Ill gotten, ill spent. (Mr. B Lam).”.
của thế gian, ai khôn ngoan thì đặng
The world's goods go to the clever — wealth circulates, and wit is the net that catches it passing.
của vắn mặt dài
Goods run short, faces stay long — the feast ends, the acquaintance doesn't; spend as if you'll meet again.
của ít lòng nhiều
possessing little and not giving any significant gifts, but being very warm-hearted instead
của đổ mà hốt
Scooping up what was spilled — salvage that never comes back whole.
củi tre một bọn, bài thập một môn
Bamboo kindling in one bundle, the tens in one suit — birds of a feather, cards of a suit.
củi đậu nấu đậu
Boiling beans over bean-stalk fire — a thing consumed by its own kind.
cứ bở thì đào
Where it crumbles, keep digging — press every soft spot to its bottom.
cứng đầu cứng cổ
Stiff-headed and stiff-necked — stubbornly defiant of all correction.
cứu vật vật trả ơn, cứu nhơn nhơn trả oán
Save a beast and it repays kindness; save a man and he repays spite — gratitude, the animals' virtue.
cử nhứt khả dĩ suy kỳ dư
From one instance, infer the rest — a single case unlocks its whole kind.
cửa hàng văn phòng phẩm
stationery shop
cửa hàng đồ làm vườn
garden-supplies shop
cửa Khổng sân Trình
The gate of Confucius, the yard of Trình — the classical world of scholars and their learning.
cửa đóng then cài
Door shut, bolt slid — the house, or the heart, closed for the season.
cửu hạn phùng cam vũ
Long drought meets sweet rain — relief at its most longed-for; one of the four classical joys.
cửu tử nhứt sanh
Nine parts death, one part life — odds narrowed to a single thread of survival.
cựa lắm càng sầy vẩy
A hard-up house bears clever children — want is the sharpest tutor.
da bọc xương
nothing but skin and bones; mere bag of bones
da cóc mà bọc bột-lọc, bột-lọc mà bọc hòn than
Toad-skin wrapping tapioca-white, wrapping a coal-black heart — the longan riddle; appearances nested three layers deep.
dai như chão
Tough as an old mooring rope — chewy, stubborn, unbreakable.
dai như giẻ
Stuck like lacquer — an attachment nothing peels.
dai đỉa đói
Clingy as a starved leech — attachment that feeds as it holds.
danh bất hư truyền
reputation is well merited
danh chính ngôn thuận
to be fitting and proper; to be perfectly justified or deserved
danh lam thắng cảnh
famous sights and beautiful landscapes; splendid tourist attractions
danh thanh đại chấn
A name that shakes the air — renown that resounds far and wide.
danh ô nan thục
A soiled name has no ransom — reputation, once fouled, is past buying back.
dao cau rọc lá trầu vàng Mắt anh anh liếc,mắt nàng nàng đưa
The areca knife slits the golden betel leaf; my eye slides to you and yours to me — flirtation sharp and folded as the quid itself.
dao năng liếc thì sắc
A blade often honed stays sharp — practice is the whetstone of every skill.
dc
Texting shortcut for “được” — can / OK / fine.
di tửu vô lượng bất cập loạn
Wine without measure, but never to disorder — drink to your capacity's edge and not a cup past.
dinh tất dật
What is full must overflow — at the brim, stop pouring.
dinh, hư, tiêu, trưởng
Waxing, waning, wearing, growing — a life keeps the moon's four seasons.
diện phục tâm bất phục
The face submits, the heart does not — obedience worn on the features and nowhere else.
diệt địa giai nhiên
Change the soil, the same nature — the worthy stay worthy wherever transplanted.