lỗi thầy mực sách, cứ mạch mà cưa
Blame the master's crooked ink-line, but saw along the grain — bad instruction is no license for bad work.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
lộn mề gà
Turned inside-out like a gizzard — the torturer's art of beating a prisoner hollow; brutal colonial-era torture.
lộng giả thành chân
fantasy becomes reality
lời chào cao hơn mâm cỗ
always be courteous in any situation
lời nói chẳng mất tiền mua, lựa lời mà nói cho vừa lòng nhau
Words cost nothing to buy — so choose the ones that please each other's hearts — the golden rule of Vietnamese speech.
lời nói không đi đôi với việc làm
The person referred to in the proverb is a hypocrite; he says one thing but does another.
lời nói là bạc, im lặng là vàng
Speech is silver, silence is gold.
lời ong tiếng ve
unfounded rumours and malicious gossip
lỡ bước sang ngang
A missed step onto the crossing ferry — a woman resigning herself to a late or lesser marriage.
lợi bất cập hại
The gain never covers the damage — profit posted, loss footnoted larger.
lợn nhà gà chợ
Buy the pig at the farm, the hen at the market — where to buy each thing to choose it well.
lửa gần dát mặt
Like a machete into earth — words or deeds that land once and stay.
lửa gần rơm lâu ngày cũng bén
Two people kept close together will eventually develop feelings — proximity kindles attraction.
lửa thử vàng, gian nan thử sức
fire tests gold, hardship tests strength
lực bất tòng tâm
So much to do, so little done.
ma bắt coi mặt người ta
Even ghosts check the face before they seize — bullies read their victim first.
ma chê quỉ hờn
Living straight and speaking true — the plain rule of an honest life.
ma cũ nạt ma mới
The old ghost hazes the new ghost — seniority's bullying, even among spirits.
ma không thương người ốm, kẻ-trộm không thương nhà nghèo
Ghosts don't pity the sick, thieves don't pity the poor — predators keep no exemptions for the pitiable.
ma ăn cỗ
any act carried out so clandestinely and secretly that all traces are erased, especially illicit affairs
mai đẹt ti ni
“My destiny” — fated love, pronounced the way a Thai drama made famous.
mang con bỏ chợ
synonym of đem con bỏ chợ
manh nhơn kị hạt mã, hắc dạ lâm thâm trì
A blind man on a blind horse, midnight at the deep pond's edge — recklessness stacked to its logical end.
may hơn khôn
Luck beats brains — the winner's shrug and the loser's consolation.
mi thanh mục tú
Fine brows and comely eyes — a delicately handsome face.
minh tâm khắc cốt
engraved in one's heart and carved on one's bones
miá sâu có đốt, nhà dột có nơi
Borers pick their cane-joint, leaks pick their spot — faults are located things; find the segment, find the culprit.
miếng ngon nhớ lâu, nhời đau nhớ đời
The delicious is remembered long; the wounding word, for life — the tongue's two aftertastes.
miếng thịt là miếng nhục
A morsel of meat is a morsel of shame — the pun that prices every begged mouthful (thịt reads as nhục, 'disgrace').
miếng trầu là đầu câu chuyện
paan is a conversation starter
miệng có thép
A mouth lined with steel — speech that cuts on contact.
miệng hùm, gan sứa
If you cannot bite, never show your teeth.
miệng khôn chôn dại
A wise mouth buries a foolish one — speech saves what silence would have sunk, and vice versa.
miệng kẻ sang có gang có thép
A grandee's mouth carries cast iron and steel — the powerful speak in enforceable metal.
miệng lưỡi thế gian
The world's mouths and tongues — public gossip and the judgment of strangers.
miệng lằn lưỡi mối
Lizard mouths and termite tongues — small darting speech that poisons as it flickers.
miệng thơn-thớt, dạ ớt ngâm
A mouth all silk, a heart of steeped chili — cordiality brined in malice.
miệng ăn núi lở
to spend one's money without generating any income; to fritter away a great fortune
mlem mlem
Yum — for delicious food or a delicious-looking someone; “kiwi kiwi” is the fruitier sequel.
ms
Texting shortcut for “mới” — just / new. “ms về” = just got home.
mua lầm, bán không lầm
The buyer errs; the seller never does — one side of the counter always knows the goods better.
mua may bán đắt
Lucky buying and brisk selling — the well-wisher's blessing on a trade or an opening sale.
mua mà cả, trả thêm bớt
Haggle the price down, then the extras up — the twin liturgy of a proper market purchase.
mua sỉ bán lẻ
Buy wholesale, sell retail — small trade; or gossip bought in bulk and retold in pieces.
mua trị bán loạn
Buy in order, sell in chaos — calm choosing, hasty unloading; commerce in wartime.
mua ván bán thuyền
Buy planks, sell the boat — trading up from the pieces to the whole.
mua đầu chợ bán cuối chợ
Bought at the market's head, sold at its tail — dealing in whatever passes through one's hands, nothing held for long.
muôn người như một
Ten thousand people as one — everyone of one mind and one movement.
muối bỏ biển
a drop in the bucket
muối bỏ bể không thấm vào đâu
Salt tossed in the sea — contribution vanishing into scale without a trace.
muối đổ ai xót
When the salt spills, who smarts? — a loss owned by everyone is mourned by no one.
muốn cho chắc, đắt cho người
To be sure of it, price it dear to others — what people pay for, they value.
muốn no thì phải chăm làm Một hạt thóc vàng chín giọt mồ hôi
To eat your fill, work with a will — one golden rice grain costs nine drops of sweat.
muốn sang thì bắc Cầu Kiều Muốn con hay chữ phải yêu lấy thầy
To cross to riches, build the Kiều bridge; for a lettered child, cherish the teacher — the old bridge-toll of education.
muốn ăn hét phải đào giun
To eat the thrush, first dig the worms — every delicacy starts in the dirt.
muốn ăn thì lăn vào bếp
if you are hungry, then you ought to cook for yourself, not waiting for others
muỗi đốt chân voi
A mosquito biting an elephant's leg — effort too puny to matter.
muộn còn hơn không
Better late than never.
mài dao dạy vợ
Whetting the knife while lecturing the wife — discipline sharpened where affection should be.
mài mực ru con, mài son đánh giặc
Grinding ink she lulls the child; grinding vermilion she routs invaders — the Vietnamese woman's two-handed legend.