mình ốc chẳng rửa
The snail that won't wash its own shell — quick to scrub every neighbor, never itself.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
mình ở lổ, cổ đeo hoa
Naked at the waist, flowers at the throat — finery hung on indignity; priorities inverted.
mò cua bắt ốc
Groping for crabs, catching snails — the mudflat's subsistence; humble foraging for the day's meal.
mò kim đáy bể
to look for a needle in a haystack; literally "to blindly look for a needle at the bottom of the ocean"
mò trăng đáy nước
to make a hopeless, futile or vain effort at doing something; to ask for the moon
món đặc biệt trong ngày
daily specials
mô Phật
(phrase) clipping of Nam mô A Di Đà Phật
mô tê răng rứa
The four famous Central question words strung together — mô (where), tê (there), răng (why/how), rứa (like that) — used nationwide as playful shorthand for "full-on Central dialect I can't follow".
môi giới bất động sản
real estate agent
môi giới cho thuê nhà
letting agent
môn đăng hộ đối
to be well-matched in terms of socio-economic status (for purposes of marriage); to have similar family backgrounds
mùng một Tết cha, mùng hai Tết mẹ, mùng ba Tết thầy
Day one of Tết for father’s side, day two for mother’s, day three for the teacher — the traditional visiting order of the New Year, ranking the debts of gratitude a person owes.
mùng năm, mười bốn, hai ba
The fifth, the fourteenth, the twenty-third — the lunar calendar’s proverbially unlucky days for setting out, opening shop or starting anything; the folk rhyme finishes «đi chơi cũng thiệt nữa là đi buôn» (even a pleasure trip loses, let alone business).
múa gậy vườn hoang
Swinging a staff in an abandoned garden — grand flourishes where no one contests the ground.
múa rìu mắt thợ
Swinging an axe before the carpenter's eye — expertise performed at the expert.
múa rìu qua mắt thợ
To show off a skill in front of a true master of that skill — foolish, presumptuous display.
mút chỉ cà tha
Out past the last thread's end — impossibly far; the back of beyond.
măng không uốn để ra tre uốn làm sao đặng
Bend the shoot or never bend the bamboo — correction has a season, and it is early.
mĩ nhân hồng ảnh
A beauty's rosy silhouette — the graceful figure of a lovely woman.
mũ ni che tai
A monk's bonnet over the ears — hearing switched off by choice; serene, convenient deafness.
mũi dại lái chịu đòn
The prow blunders, the helm takes the beating — the subordinate's error lands on the captain's back.
mũi tên hòn đạn
Arrowheads and bullets — the battlefield and its ever-present risk of death.
mũi vạy thì lái chịu đòn
When the prow skews, the helm takes the beating — subordinates' errors land on the leader's back.
mưa gió phải thì
Rain and wind in due season — a maiden come to marrying age, in the old delicate phrase.
mưa Sở mây Tần
Rain of Chu and clouds of Qin — lovers' trysts; shared pillows and passing passion.
mưa thuận gió hoà
Obedient rain and harmonious wind — the weather of a blessed year, in field or family.
mưu cao chẳng bằng trí dày
A tall scheme is less than a thick mind — one clever stroke loses to durable sense.
mưu con đĩ, trí học trò
The harlot's schemes, the student's wiles — the two proverbial founts of cunning.
mưu sự tại nhân, thành sự tại thiên
Things seldom turn out as you have planned.
mười năm lưu lạc giang hồ, một ngày tu tỉnh, cơ đồ lại nên
Ten years adrift on rivers and lakes; one day of mending, and the estate stands again — it is never too late to turn.
mười năm trồng cây, trăm năm trồng người
Ten years to grow a tree, a hundred to grow a person — education is the longest investment there is; popularized in Vietnam by Hồ Chí Minh from a classical Chinese maxim.
mười rằm giăng náu, mười sáu giăng treo
On the fifteenth the moon hides, on the sixteenth it hangs — the lunar month's choreography, named night by night.
mười voi không được bát sáo
Ten elephants promised, not one bowl of broth delivered — grandiosity's actual yield.
mười ăn chín nhịn
Ten meals, nine fasted — hunger as the household's standing menu.
mười điểm không có nhưng
A perfect ten, no “buts” — flawless, full marks.
mượn gió bẻ măng
to fish in troubled waters
mượn đầu heo nấu cháo
Borrowing a pig's head to boil porridge — staging wealth with borrowed props.
mạ nhơn như giáo nhơn
Scolding a man is schooling him — your breath spent, his wisdom gained; the rebuked walks off with the profit.
mạc hiện hồ ẩn, mạc hiển hồ vi
Nothing shows like the hidden — the secret is the loudest thing in the house.
mạng dân trí trọng
The people's lives weigh heaviest — no charge is graver than a human life.
mạng lý hữu thì chung tu hữu, mạng lý vô thì mạc cượng cầu
What fate holds will come; what fate lacks, don't force — the ledger of one's portion is already written.
mạnh ai nấy làm
Whoever's strong does as they please — everyone charging off their own way with no coordination.
mạnh dùng sức, yếu dùng chước
The strong spend strength, the weak spend stratagem — every build of person has its own lever.
mạnh gạo bạo tiền
Strong in rice, bold in money — courage that rises with the pantry.
mạt cưa mướp đắng
deceiver, swindler, fraudster, scammer
mải mại thuận nhơn tình
Trade follows willingness — a sale both sides wanted leaves nothing to repent.
mất bò mới lo làm chuồng
To take precautions only after the loss has already happened.
mất cả chì lẫn chài
to lose everything, including initial investment
mất hút con mẹ hàng lươn
to be gone without a trace after committing misdeeds
mất lòng còn ruột
Feelings bruised, kinship intact — the quarrel stops short of the blood.
mất lòng trước nhưng được lòng sau
Offend first, please after — the honest word stings today and earns trust tomorrow.
mất miếng ăn, lộn gan lên đầu
Lose a mouthful and the liver flips overhead — no rage like the rage over a plate.
mất mạng rồi
"The internet's down" — deliciously, "mạng" means both network and life, so this also reads "I've lost my life": accurate.
mất một đền mười
Lose one, repay ten — restitution at punitive scale.
mất não
Brainless-mode — doing something so dumb your brain looks uninstalled; usually self-deprecating or teasing.
mất sổ gạo
a tragic, distressing, miserable situation (like losing one's book of rations)
mất ăn mất ngủ
overthinking, worrying, and stressing out to the point of not eating or sleeping well
mất động lực
To lose motivation — the tank hits empty even though the to-do list hasn't; modern shorthand for drive gone missing.
mấy giờ rồi
"What time is it?" — the essential clock question; "rồi" makes it about NOW, usually with mild alarm attached.
mấy giờ rồi?
What time is it?
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