sơn ăn dường mặt, ma bắt dường người
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Outsiders are judged by appearance, locals by behavior
Literally: mountain eats the front face, ghost catches the back person
Examples
Người ta thường nói sơn ăn dường mặt, ma bắt dường người khi đánh giá một ngườiPeople often say that outsiders are judged by appearance, locals by behavior when evaluating someone
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 “sơn ăn dường mặt, ma bắt dường người” mean?
Outsiders are judged by appearance, locals by behavior Literally: mountain eats the front face, ghost catches the back person
Is “sơn ăn dường mặt, ma bắt dường người” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.