việc người thì sáng, việc mình thi quáng
Men are blind in their own cause.
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Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
Men are blind in their own cause.
initialism of vãi lồn
Elephants know elephants, horses know horses — kind recognizes kind, thieves most fluently of all.
to forget and deny the favors of one's benefactor; to betray one's kindness
The false accuser inherits the charge — whatever sentence was sought lands on the one who lied for it.
Wherever the fun is, there he's posted — appetite for play assigning its own duty station.
to overdo something, especially to overspend or to squander
Top-tier, VIP-grade — an exaggerated phonetic respelling of "VIP", said admiringly (or mock-admiringly) of anything fancy.
Wiping the face without sparing the nose — a rebuke that forgets whose relatives are present.
to do something extremely dangerous
Texting shortcut for “vẫn” — still. “vx ổn” = still fine.
True gold fears no fire — the genuine passes through any test unsinged.
to be involved in long, dangerous, life-or-death missions, especially military ones
Dizzy-headed and fever-skinned — out of sorts, aching and unwell.
synonym of vân vân và mây mây
and so on and so forth; et cetera
Pale clouds and light wind — composure worn like fair weather.
full-fare ticket and half-fare ticket
Parting the clouds to shoot the goose — talent aiming high and hitting; ambition with the skill to match.
Smug as a father-in-law after the punch — pride bruised and doubled down; unearned swagger at its most infamous.
For a husband's sake she strains at the work — no one was born with iron skin and bronze bones.
(adverb) why
Carrying banana stumps for the pig's-head feast — dignity spent on an undignified errand, for duty's sake.
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.
'Suppose the bridge were planked...' — the lullaby's soft once-upon-a-wish for lovelier things.
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.
Though mother owns nothing at all, mother and child are never parted — poverty cannot divide that pair.
to not know how to deal with a complicated problem or affair
No authority, no ordering about — command runs only inside its own fence.
No service, no stipend — reward accepted without work shames the taker.
A thousand gold unearned: if not great luck, then great disaster — the causeless windfall always invoices later.
No trial, no hero — greatness is minted only in misfortune.
Befriend none beneath yourself — the old counsel to climb by company; friends are ladders or weights.
Not strength enough to tie a chicken — feebleness in its proverbial unit.
No office, a light body; a child, and all is complete — the two blessings: freedom from rank, fullness of family.
Workers of the world, unite!
Workers of the world, unite!
inconsequential; meaningless
No small men, no gentlemen — each rank exists by the other's contrast; the ladder needs both ends.
Conjuring something from nothing — fabrication as creation myth.
No wine, no ceremony — the Vietnamese rite runs on the cup; betel opens, liquor seals.
Without luck, no one arrives — effort rows the boat, but fortune is the tide.
No ground to plant an awl — poverty measured to the awl-point.
No ruthlessness, no great man — the cynic's rule that greatness requires a hard heart.
His palanquin ahead, hers following behind — the wedding procession's picture of paired honor.
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.
Literature exists to carry the Way — writing as the vehicle of principle.
Good writing needs no length — quality declares itself in the first hearing.
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.
Civil order and martial merit — governing well in peace and prevailing in war.
Forever knotted, one heart — the wedding wish stitched into every red banner.
Misfortune on the wind, calamity flying past — disaster that simply lands, unaddressed to anyone.
starting line and finish line
It is the first step that counts.
May you have all that you desire!
Ten thousand offenses, none like poverty — want is the crime the world punishes hardest.
Thin gauze over the saint's eyes — a veil that fools no one it was hung for.
Asking after houses and fields — the small dream that convicts a man of no great one.
A poor streak follows every road — carry bad luck anywhere and unpack the same bags.
track-and-field athlete