nhất lé, nhì lùn, tam hô, tứ rỗ
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
First the cross-eyed, second the short, third the bucktoothed, fourth the pockmarked — a folk ranking that warns these unassuming-looking people are the sharpest (or most formidable) in the room. Teasing by design and unkind by modern lights; quoted with a wink, not as science.
Register: informalEra: traditional – present
Examples
Editorial example (batch 059)
Sources & notes
Number-idiom class scrape (2026-08-11): violet.vn exercise list + voh.com.vn/song-dep/tuc-ngu-viet-nam-379232.html + vndoc.com roundup. Definition original.
Common questions
What does “nhất lé, nhì lùn, tam hô, tứ rỗ” mean?
First the cross-eyed, second the short, third the bucktoothed, fourth the pockmarked — a folk ranking that warns these unassuming-looking people are the sharpest (or most formidable) in the room. Teasing by design and unkind by modern lights; quoted with a wink, not as science. Literally: first cross-eyed, second short, third bucktoothed, fourth pockmarked
Is “nhất lé, nhì lùn, tam hô, tứ rỗ” formal or informal?
nhất lé, nhì lùn, tam hô, tứ rỗ is generally informal.