Chê tôm ăn cá lù đù, chê thằng ỏng bụng lấy thằng gù lưng
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
To reject something inferior and end up with something even worse
Examples
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Headword listed in the vdict.com proverb dictionary index (discovery source; headword only — no source content copied). Entered as candidate 2026-08-05; definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-05; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Chê tôm ăn cá lù đù, chê thằng ỏng bụng lấy thằng gù lưng” mean?
To reject something inferior and end up with something even worse Literally: Rejecting shrimp to eat muddy fish, rejecting a pot-bellied man to take a hunchback
Is “Chê tôm ăn cá lù đù, chê thằng ỏng bụng lấy thằng gù lưng” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.