Tiếng Việt · Proverb Candidate

Khôn làm văn tế, dại làm văn bia

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Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Intelligent people write obituaries, fools write beer songs

Literally: Clever people write funeral orations, stupid people write beer shop signs

Examples

Anh ta thật khôn làm văn tế, dại làm văn bia khi nói về cuộc đời mìnhHe was clever to write his own obituary, foolish to write his own beer song when talking about his life

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 “Khôn làm văn tế, dại làm văn bia” mean?

Intelligent people write obituaries, fools write beer songs Literally: Clever people write funeral orations, stupid people write beer shop signs

Is “Khôn làm văn tế, dại làm văn bia” formal or informal?

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

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