bắt dao rơi
Catching a falling knife — buying a stock mid-crash; the international traders’ warning image, fully naturalized into Vietnamese market talk.
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bắt lươn đàng đuôi
Grabbing the eel by the tail — the slipperiest hold on a slippery thing.
bắt râu người nọ, đặt cằm người kia
Plucking one man's beard to plant on another's chin — swapping stories between owners until truth is upside down.
bắt đáy
Bottom-fishing — buying into a falling market on the bet that this is the floor; heroic when right, expensive when the floor turns out to have a basement.
bắt đứa có tóc, không ai bắt đứa trọc đầu
Seize the man with hair; nobody grabs the shaven head — claims attach to those with something to hold.
bằng hữu chỉ ư tín
Friendship rests on good faith — without trust there is no friend to speak of.
bằng mặt không bằng lòng
reluctantly agree
bặt vô âm tín
missing; whereabouts unknown; complete radio silent
bế môn trục đạo
Shutting the door to chase out the thief — a cure that locks the disease inside.
bế quan toả cảng
to cut off a country from the outside world
bế quan tỏa cảng
Traditional tone placement spelling of bế quan toả cảng.
bề hội đồng
To gang up on someone as a group; a mob beating (related to "đánh hội đồng").
bề trên ở chẳng kỷ cang, cho nên bề dưới làm đàng mây mưa
When those above keep no order, those below make wind and rain — misrule breeds misconduct downward.
bể cạn non mòn
Seas run shallow and mountains wear down — time changes all things; also an image for a vow meant to outlast them.
bể kèo
A plan or deal that falls through; to flake on an arrangement (kèo = a bet or plan).
bệnh tòng khẩu nhập, hoạ tòng khẩu xuất
Illness comes in via the mouth because of food and trouble goes out via the mouth because of words; carefulness required in diet and speech
bỉ cực thới lai
When misery bottoms out, prosperity turns in — the wheel's lowest point is where it rises.
bỉ sắc tư phong
is rich in this is poor in that; (figurative) one cannot have it both ways
bị cao huyết áp hoặc huyết áp thấp
to have high or low blood pressure
bịnh quỉ đã có thuốc tiên
For a demon's illness, a fairy's medicine — extraordinary ailments summon extraordinary cures.
bịnh tùy khẩu nhập, họa tùng khẩu xuất
Sickness enters by the mouth; calamity exits by it — one gate for both directions of ruin.
bịt tai trộm chuông
to fool oneself, to bury one's head in the sand
bỏ bóng đá người
Leaving the ball to kick the man — abandoning the issue to attack the person.
bỏ mẹ
(phrase) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bỏ, mẹ.
bỏ ngoài tai
to turn a deaf ear
bỏ qua đi
"Let it slide" — advice to drop a grievance; between friends it's mercy, from elders it's a verdict.
bỏ thì thương, vương thì tội
Discard it and grieve; keep it and suffer — the dilemma of what can neither stay nor go.
bố láo
A Northern rebuke for cheeky, insolent talk or brazen nonsense — between friends it lands as "you're full of it", from an elder it is a genuine scolding.
bố láo chi khươn
Utter insolent rot — barefaced, uncultured nonsense.
bốc bát họ
To take out a street loan — an informal «họ» rotating-credit payout turned loan-shark product: you collect a lump sum and repay in steep daily installments; a staple of Northern black-credit stories.
bốn chín gặp năm mươi
Forty-nine meets fifty — two of a kind colliding: opponents so evenly matched (and often equally stubborn) that neither can get the upper hand; said with a grin when a quarrel or contest refuses to produce a winner.
bống biển gầy nên một nhà
Sea-drift gathered into one house — strangers washed together until they're family.
bồng em thì khỏi xay lúa, xay lúa thì khỏi bồng em
Minding the baby excuses the rice-milling, and the reverse — one back cannot carry two jobs at once.
bổn cũ soạn lại
the same tired old trick; the same trite trope
bộ phong tróc ảnh
Netting wind and grabbing shadows — chasing what no hand can close on.
bới bèo ra bọ
Rake the duckweed and find the vermin — inspect anything closely and out crawl its faults.
bới đất nhặt cỏ
Scratching soil and picking grass — subsistence at the fingernail level.
bớt bát mát mặt
One bowl fewer, a cooler face — eat a little less and keep your dignity intact.
bớt chút được không
The bargaining ask: "can you take a little off?" — friendly haggling is expected at markets; smiles win discounts, indignation doesn't.
bỡn quá hoá thật
Tease too far and it turns true — the joke that crossed into fact.
bợm già mắc bẫy cò-ke
The old rogue caught in a berry-snare — a lifetime of cunning undone by the simplest trap.
bụng bảo dạ
Belly tells gut — to say something to oneself, keeping the thought private.
bụng đói cật rét
Empty belly, frozen back — want attacking from inside and out.
bụt chùa nhà không thiêng
The Buddha of your own pagoda works no miracles — the familiar is never revered; experts are strangers at home.
bụt nhà không thiêng
familiarity breeds contempt
bụt trên toà gà nào dám mổ mắt
No hen dares peck the Buddha on his altar — station protects; who strikes at the enthroned?
ca sĩ kiêm nhạc sĩ
singer-songwriter
cam Phù Tải, vải Thúy Lâm
Oranges of Phù Tải, lychees of Thúy Lâm — the produce map of Hải Dương pride.
camera gắn trên mũ bảo hiểm
helmet camera
canh một chửa nằm, canh năm đã dậy
First watch not yet lain down, fifth watch already risen — sleep squeezed between two darknesses.
canh điền bất kiến điểu, hòa thục điểu phi lai
No bird at the plowing, flocks at the ripening — helpers appear at harvest, never at labor.
cao bay xa chạy
Flying high and running far — talents with reach; free to soar wherever ability carries.
Cao Biền dậy non
Gao Pian's spell roused too soon — a scheme sprung before it ripened, doomed by its own haste.
cao chạy xa bay
to be long gone and nowhere to be found, especially after committing a crime
cao lễ dễ thưa
Rich offerings make easy petitions — generous gifts open official ears.
cao nhơn tất hữu cao nhơn trị
Above every master stands a master — let no one boast; higher skill always exists.
cao nấm, ấm mồ
A high mound keeps the grave warm — ancestors well honored shelter their descendants long.
cao su đi dễ khó về,
Rubber-plantation roads: easy to walk in, hard to walk out — men leave their health in the latex rows — the colonial plantation's epitaph.
cao điểu tận, lương cung tàng
The high birds gone, the fine bow is shelved — servants discarded the moment the need ends.
cao địa
upland; highland
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