nước mắm xem màng-màng, thành-hoàng xem tàn quạt
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Do not judge something by its appearance
Literally: fish sauce looks at the membrane, royal carriage looks at the torn fan
Examples
Đừng vội đánh giá anh ta dựa trên vẻ ngoài, nước mắm xem màng-màng, thành-hoàng xem tàn quạt màDon't judge him by his appearance, fish sauce looks at the membrane, royal carriage looks at the torn fan
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 “nước mắm xem màng-màng, thành-hoàng xem tàn quạt” mean?
Do not judge something by its appearance Literally: fish sauce looks at the membrane, royal carriage looks at the torn fan
Is “nước mắm xem màng-màng, thành-hoàng xem tàn quạt” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.