bồng em thì khỏi xay lúa, xay lúa thì khỏi bồng em

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Meaning · English

Minding the baby excuses the rice-milling, and the reverse — one back cannot carry two jobs at once.

Literally: carry the baby, skip the milling; mill, skip the baby

Examples

Một người sao làm hai việc, bồng em thì khỏi xay lúa.One person, one task — nursing the baby excuses the milling.

Editorial example (VI sweep batch 040, illustrative)

Sources & notes

Discovered via Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Tục ngữ, cổ ngữ, gia ngôn (Huỳnh Tịnh Của, 1897). Definition is an original editorial synthesis, not copied from the source.

Common questions

What does “bồng em thì khỏi xay lúa, xay lúa thì khỏi bồng em” mean?

Minding the baby excuses the rice-milling, and the reverse — one back cannot carry two jobs at once. Literally: carry the baby, skip the milling; mill, skip the baby

Is “bồng em thì khỏi xay lúa, xay lúa thì khỏi bồng em” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.