độc khử độc
Poison expels poison — the venom cured by its own kind.
All languages English Tiếng Việt
Where will you be? Anywhere Hà Nội & the NorthHuế / Đà Nẵng & the CenterSài Gòn & the SouthOnline slang Bắc ↔ Nam words
Poison expels poison — the venom cured by its own kind.
One post cannot prop a great hall — a single strength, however true, fails under a communal roof.
Read for the principle, not the penmanship — books are mined for meaning, not admired for strokes.
The «driving crew» — a ring of big-money players who steer a stock’s price up or down in concert and harvest the retail investors who follow; Vietnam’s name for coordinated market manipulators.
A life is one hand-span; sleep your days and it's half — mortality measured against the sleeper.
Suing over a sweet potato — litigation smaller than its court fees.
Retribution once took generations; now it settles before your eyes — karma's clearing time has shortened.
Plucking a lute at a buffalo's ear — refinement performed for an audience without the organ for it.
synonym of địt mẹ (“fuck”)
Muddy water fattens the stork — confusion is somebody's feeding ground.
The schemer watches the wary — guile studies exactly those who might see it coming.
The fool does the making, the clever do the eating — labor and its yield, filed under different names.
One eats the fish-paste, another gets the thirst — the pleasure booked to one account, the bill to another.
Broad in virtue, high in talent — able and principled, and honored for both.
Đức Thọ of white rice and clear water — visit and the people put you at ease — a district's reputation in a line.
Standing on this bank gazing at that field, on that bank gazing at this — vast and shimmering; and I, a milk-ripe rice stalk swaying in the young pink sun — the most beloved portrait of girl and delta.
to take responsibility for the hardest part of a common task; to bear the brunt; to take the helm
to be restless; to feel uneasy; to be on tenterhooks; to fidget
to be rooted to the spot; to be unable to move due to fear, surprise, or other strong emotions.
synonym of đứng núi này trông núi nọ
Never satisfied with what you have; always thinking somewhere or something else is better.
Heart-stopping — that split second of freeze when a scare or a reveal lands; also for cliffhangers and penalty kicks.
The basket-cord snapped, so a rope thrown round for now — the makeshift that must serve till better.
Gut-torn and liver-torn — grief that feels like being ripped apart inside.
Retied, but never like the first knot — mended bonds keep their splice.
Clean as a tadpole losing its tail — decisively, completely severed.
"Don't be mad anymore" — the make-up opener; multiplied with food ("đừng giận nữa, đi ăn nha?") it rarely fails.
"Don't worry" — reassurance in two syllables; "đừng lo, có mình đây" (don't worry, I'm here) is the full comfort package.
"Leave me alone / stop bothering me" — firm but not vulgar; the street-vendor deflection when a smile hasn't worked.
Press no divide of Buddhist and Catholic — all were children of Lạc and grandchildren of Hồng before the altars differed.
Amazing, good job! — the English phrase respelled in Vietnamese, popularized as a catchphrase by coach Binz on Rap Việt (2020).
A debt of kindness broad and deep — gratitude owed past measuring.
Would you were a mirror, for me to gaze in daily; would you were a betel box, for me to keep fresh areca and golden leaf — love wishing itself into the beloved's hands.
Would the river were one hand-span wide — I'd bridge it with my yếm-strap for you to cross and visit — desire re-engineering geography.
The beauty pass — the trap where a man's judgment goes to die; seduction deployed with intent.
Surreal to the point of suspicion — internet shorthand for "that can't be real". Often extended into the nonsense chant "ảo ma Canada".
Deadpan "now that is unreal" — the meme-certified reaction to something absurd enough to question reality, popularized by streamer culture.
So surreal the wok flips — maximum-strength "unbelievable", the cartoonish upgrade of "ảo" for things that break your sense of reality.
Humming and hawing — mumbling evasively, never giving a straight answer.
Warm-backed and full-bellied — living in comfort and plenty.
Mumbling like the village council — deliberately vague, neither confirming nor denying.
To clutch a snake to your chest — to shelter someone who will turn on you.
Lullaby: wind stirs the banana clump behind the house — he chases the minor wife and abandons raft and children — the deserted family's cradle song.
Lullaby: wind blows and shoves — to the clearing for còng crabs, to the river for fish, to the fields for crabs — the roaming song of making-do.
Umming and ahing — grunting vaguely to dodge every question at hand.
Someone with a narrow worldview who mistakes their limited experience for the whole world.
The frog at the well's bottom — sure the sky is exactly one well-mouth wide.
Hating whoever betters you — envy dressed as judgment.
The snail can't even carry its own shell — and offers to carry moss for others.
A house like a hung chime-stone — four bare walls and the wind; poverty with nothing left to list.
The Northern yelp of astonishment — an eye-popping "oh my goodness!" that internet culture adopted as a meme spelling of "ối giời ơi".
The bamboo strickle levels the measure — the honest scrape across the brim; full measure, no heap, no hollow.
Chili hot, ginger bitter — the sharp seasonings of shared life.
What chili isn't hot, what girl doesn't guard her husband — jealousy as natural as spice.
One good turn deserves another.
The banyan leans on the spirit, the spirit on the banyan — legitimacy and shelter propping each other up.
Live so as to please everyone? Live broadly they laugh, live narrowly they sneer — the impossibility of universal approval.
'As if — like I'd ever tell' — the interrogation-proof teenage stonewall.
In this life all things are held in common — we outdo each other only by the name of hero left behind.
The double-take: "wait, what?" — "ủa" is the noise Vietnamese makes when reality glitches; beloved of memes and group chats.