gây tê ngoài màng cứng
to administer an epidural; epidural anesthesia
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
gãi đúng chỗ ngứa
Scratching right where it itches — hitting exactly what someone was hoping for.
gãi đầu gãi tai
Scratching head and ear — squirming over something awkward to say or solve.
gét gô
Bring it on.
gì cơ
Northern "what was that? / come again?" — polite non-comprehension; "cơ" is a distinctly Hà Nội particle.
gì vậy
Southern "what? / what's that?" — from genuine question to mild outrage ("cái gì vậy trời!") depending on volume.
gìa lăm gìa hỏng
Count on it hard and watch it miss — what's banked on never lands; the accidental arrives instead.
gìa sanh tật, đất sanh cỏ
Age sprouts infirmities as soil sprouts weeds — the years plant what they please.
gò bồng đảo
The mounds of the Isles of Bliss — a woman's breasts, in Hồ Xuân Hương's sly classical geography.
gòy soq
Cutesy texting spelling of "rồi xong" — "welp, that's it, it's over", said with mock resignation.
góc bể chân trời
Sea-corners and sky's edge — the far ends of the earth; immeasurable distance.
gót chân A-sin
Achilles heel; weakness
gông đeo cổ
A cangue around the neck — a burden locked on that goes everywhere you do.
gơn phố
A «street girl» in the fashion sense — the female half of the Hanoi boy-phố/girl-phố streetwear subculture: bold makeup, branded (or đôn chề) fits, Vinahouse energy, flashy urban confidence.
gươm cầm đằng chuôi
Holding the sword by the hilt — advantage secured at the handle end.
gươm hai lưỡi
A two-edged sword — help and harm sharing one blade.
gươm kề cổ
A sword at the neck — persuasion by proximity of blade.
gươm đàn quảy gánh
A sword, a lute and a carrying-pole — the free-roaming life of the wandering artist.
gương tày liếp
A warning big as a bamboo screen — a predecessor's failure hung up where none can miss it.
gương vỡ lại lành
a situation where a couple reunites after their break-up or divorce
gạn đục khơi trong
separate the wheat from the chaff
gạo châu củi quế
Rice dear as pearls, firewood dear as cinnamon — the market at famine prices.
gạo đã thành cơm
The rice is already cooked — what's done has set and cannot be uncooked.
gảy đòn gánh giữa đường
The carrying-pole snapping mid-road — a marriage broken in its middle years.
gấu bự
Big bear — an extra-sized (or extra-beloved) boyfriend/girlfriend; “gấu” is the classic slang for one’s S.O.
gần chùa gọi bụt bằng anh
to treat somebody, especially a superior, overly casually due to familiarity
gần mực thì đen, gần đèn thì sáng
You take on the character of the company you keep — bad company corrupts, good company uplifts.
gần nhà xa ngõ
Near by houses, far by lanes — neighbors the map calls close and the path calls distant.
gần đàng xa ngõ
Near by the road, far by the gate — neighbors in distance, strangers in visits.
gần đất xa trời
to have one foot in the grave; to be dying; to be close to death
gậy bà đập lưng bà
Grandma's own stick lands on grandma's back — the weapon returning to its owner.
gậy ông đập lưng ông
Close to the English saying: “Hoist with his own petard.”.
gắng công mài sắt, chầy ngày nên kim
Grind the iron long enough and it becomes a needle — patience is the whole of the craft.
gắp lửa bỏ tay người
to pass the buck; to weasel out; to slander
gắt như mắm tôm
easily irritable
gọi bụt bằng anh
Calling the Buddha 'big brother' — familiarity at maximum insolence.
gọi đồ ăn, đồ uống
to order food and drinks
gội đầu vấn tóc
Washing the hair and binding it up — the courteous welcome owed to a worthy person.
gởi trấng cho ác
Entrusting eggs to the raven — deposit made straight into the appetite of the keeper.
gỡ rối tơ lòng
Untangling the heart's silk — easing someone's knotted troubles; the agony-aunt's trade.
gừng càng già càng cay
the older a person is, the wiser they are; a person is more and more experienced as they age
gửi trứng cho ác
to hand or entrust one's treasure to a feigning baddie
hai bàn tay trắng
two empty hands
hai gái lấy một chồng
Two women, one husband — an arithmetic no harmony survives.
hai người đàn bà và một con vịt thành cái chợ
women are typically loud, talkative, prone to nagging and gossiping
hai năm rõ mười
Two fives make a plain ten — obvious beyond any need of proof.
hai sương một nắng
Two dews to one sunshine — the farmer's day, out before dawn's dew and back after dusk's.
hai vai gánh nặng hòa hai
Both shoulders loaded even — torn between two duties of equal weight; obliging one betrays the other.
hai đánh một, không chột cũng què
Two against one: if you’re not half-blinded you’ll limp away — outnumbered is beaten; nobody walks whole out of an unfair fight.
ham ăn mắc bẩy
Greed at the bait springs the trap — the mouth leads the whole body into the snare.
hay chữ chẳng bằng hay giữ
Book-clever is less than conduct-clever — learning unpracticed is knowing the twig-ends only.
hay phết
Northern understatement for "actually pretty good" — "phết" softens the praise into a pleasantly surprised nod.
hay xoay vào lòng
Warming the cold bed, fanning the hot — filial care calibrated to every season; the classic duty from the primers.
hay ăn lăn vào bếp
Love eating? Roll toward the kitchen — appetite owes labor.
hiến mi cầu vinh
Selling one's eyebrows for advancement — the flatterer's trade of bending everything to please upward.
hiếu thuận hoàn sanh hiếu thuận tử, ngỗ nghịch hoàn sanh ngỗ nghịch nhi
The filial beget the filial; the defiant beget the defiant — households harvest their own temperament.
hiểm địa
dangerous place that is difficult to access and full of obstacles
hiểu rồi
"Understood" — the learning checkpoint; say it only when true, because the follow-up question will find you.
hiện đại nhưng không hại điện
Modern but not power-hungry — a joke on the lái pair "hiện đại" (modern) ↔ "hại điện" (harms electricity), used of gadgets and of anything fashionably high-tech.
hoa cười ngọc thốt
Flower-smiles and jade-speech — a beauty whose smile blooms and whose words drop like gems.
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