All languages English Tiếng Việt
When the banana grows branches and the fig buds, when the loach spawns atop the banyan — then I'll marry you — refusal by botanical impossibility.
When will the mussel open its mouth — the silent one's speech, awaited like a tide.
When the grass of Tháp Mười runs out — the resistance oath: only then will the South stop fighting — defiance with a botanical deadline.
to include all three meals; full board
A smile as rare and costly as Baosi's — an allusion to a beauty who never smiles, or to pleasure bought at ruinous price.
State-shop beer and television drama — the subsidy era's twin luxuries; the good life, ration-book edition.
Mighty troops and strong generals — a force at the height of its strength.
I don't know; no idea
Known by face, not by name — acquaintance at half resolution.
Knowing one without knowing ten — a corner of the picture mistaken for the whole.
To know people and know goods — to judge both people and things at their true worth.
You know the person and the face, never the heart — acquaintance stops at the skin.
Know the other, know yourself — sizing both sides truly and acting with due measure.
Where's the itch I'm meant to scratch? — wanting to help with no idea where help is wanted.
I get it! Quit your nagging!
if you know about something, do talk about it, if you don't, lean back on a pillar and listen
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see biết, thế.
Who's to know which ghost ate the offerings — with no witness, the culprit can never be named.
initialism of bao nhiêu
Texting shortcut with two readings: “biết” (to know) or “bình thường” (normal, meh) — context decides.
nuts and bolts
Swarming like ants — numbers past counting.
Trade with partners, sell with a guild — commerce is a company sport.
to shoot the breeze; to chew the fat; to gossip
Paddle in one hand, oar in the other — hands never once at rest.
To trade from a shoulder-pole and sell from a tray — to scrape a living as a street vendor.
Trade meets its market, fishing meets its hole — the lucky moment when the work and the chance align.
To trade in scent and sell powder — to live by prostitution.
Trading in clouds and selling wind — commerce in the perfectly intangible.
To trade in powder and sell rouge — to live by prostitution.
Buy at eight quan, sell at four — commerce conducted at half price; the losing trade.
Trading in Sở, selling in Tần — commerce shuttling between rival kingdoms; the far-flung dealer.
Basket trade and tray selling — petty street vending to get by.
Drowsy, and a spare mat appears — the need meeting its remedy by pure luck.
Tying the elephant with sewing thread — restraint amusingly beneath its object.
A thread tied at the wrist — the old charm binding a promise, or a soul, in place.
Distant kin are no match for close neighbors — the ones nearby are the ones who come running.
An old woman scooping fish paste with her fingers — a sloppy worker who makes a mess of whatever she touches.
An old woman playing a child's paper drum — age at play far beneath its years.
The old lady meets the pickpocket — the sly finally sampling slyness from the receiving end.
something must have gone wrong when the Midwife got this child out of their mother
All the world and their neighbor — everybody, the general public.
A hundred people, a hundred temperaments — natures come one to a customer.
Versed in the old and fluent in the new — deeply learned across past and present.
chiropractor
"Fight a hundred battles, win all those hundred"; to win every fight; to be ever-victorious
Any of the hundred crafts serves the body well — every honest trade carries its owner.
May you both live to a hundred together — a classic blessing for newlyweds.
the person in question is a highly skilled marksman and they almost never miss
Sell the distant kin, buy the near neighbor — proximity outbids blood when the lamp goes out.
to sell like hot cakes
Selling the sky without limit — mischief on a celestial scale.
Selling heaven with no deed in hand — outrageous big talk; recklessly brazen behavior.
To dump goods at any price just to be rid of them — a fire-sale clear-out.
To sell off at any price, even at a loss, just to clear it out quickly.
A wax cake goes out, a lead cake comes back — trade fairly, weight for weight, or not at all.
A walking disaster — someone whose “help” reliably creates expensive problems for family and friends.
Bowls in one rack will knock sometimes — people under one roof cannot help but clatter.
It’s nine o’clock.
It’s quarter past nine.