ruốc ông cũng thối, ruốc bà chẳng thơm
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Nothing is perfect, everything has its flaws
Literally: Mr. shrimp paste is also rotten, Mrs. shrimp paste is not fragrant
Examples
Cô ấy đẹp nhưng ruốc ông cũng thối, ruốc bà chẳng thơmShe is beautiful but nothing is perfect
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 “ruốc ông cũng thối, ruốc bà chẳng thơm” mean?
Nothing is perfect, everything has its flaws Literally: Mr. shrimp paste is also rotten, Mrs. shrimp paste is not fragrant
Is “ruốc ông cũng thối, ruốc bà chẳng thơm” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.