Tiếng Việt · Proverb Attested

nói mười làm chín, kẻ cười người chê

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In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Meaning · English

Say ten, do nine — and the crowd will laugh and jeer: fall even one notch short of your own boasting and the shortfall is all anyone remembers.

Literally: saying ten, doing nine — some laugh, some scorn

Examples

Khoe sẽ về nhất mà chỉ về nhì, đúng cảnh nói mười làm chín, kẻ cười người chê.He bragged he’d finish first and came second — say ten, do nine, and the jeering writes itself.

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 “nói mười làm chín, kẻ cười người chê” mean?

Say ten, do nine — and the crowd will laugh and jeer: fall even one notch short of your own boasting and the shortfall is all anyone remembers. Literally: saying ten, doing nine — some laugh, some scorn

Is “nói mười làm chín, kẻ cười người chê” formal or informal?

nói mười làm chín, kẻ cười người chê is generally neutral.

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