Gần chùa gọi Bụt bằng anh, thấy Bụt hiền lành gọi Bụt bằng em

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Be polite to someone when they are not present, but disrespectful when they are

Literally: Near the temple call the Buddha older brother, seeing the Buddha is gentle call the Buddha younger brother

Examples

Anh ấy luôn gần chùa gọi Bụt bằng anh, thấy Bụt hiền lành gọi Bụt bằng emHe always calls the Buddha older brother when not at the temple, but calls the Buddha younger brother when seeing how gentle he is

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 2026-08-06; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “Gần chùa gọi Bụt bằng anh, thấy Bụt hiền lành gọi Bụt bằng em” mean?

Be polite to someone when they are not present, but disrespectful when they are Literally: Near the temple call the Buddha older brother, seeing the Buddha is gentle call the Buddha younger brother

Is “Gần chùa gọi Bụt bằng anh, thấy Bụt hiền lành gọi Bụt bằng em” formal or informal?

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

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