Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Có mặt: ông chúa, vắng mặt: chú khách

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Be polite to someone's face but disrespect them when they're not around

Literally: Present: lord, absent: guest

Examples

Anh ta luôn có mặt: ông chúa, vắng mặt: chú khách với sếp của mìnhHe is always polite to his boss's face but disrespects him when he's not around

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 “Có mặt: ông chúa, vắng mặt: chú khách” mean?

Be polite to someone's face but disrespect them when they're not around Literally: Present: lord, absent: guest

Is “Có mặt: ông chúa, vắng mặt: chú khách” formal or informal?

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

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