loi-thoi đấm voi chẳng chết
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A small penalty for a serious offense
Literally: scolding and punching the elephant without killing it
Examples
Hình phạt đối với tội phạm đó chỉ là lời-thoi đấm voi chẳng chếtThe penalty for that crime was just a slap on the wrist
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “loi-thoi đấm voi chẳng chết” mean?
A small penalty for a serious offense Literally: scolding and punching the elephant without killing it
Is “loi-thoi đấm voi chẳng chết” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.