Austronesian/Papuan proverb question

Waruno Mahdi mahdi at FHI-Berlin.MPG.DE
Fri May 11 17:04:04 UTC 2001


Carl,
I didn't realize you were also collecting items from mainland SE Asia.
Here's one from Vietnamese which one will perhaps not find in the books.
I learned about it back when I was still in Russia and socializing a
lot with Vietnamese students.
It is one of those male macho things, and apparently very well known
among Vietnamese (young) men. I noticed at that time, that it was enough
to recite the first hemistich upon seeing a young woman with appropriate
appearance, and some "connaisseur" in the male gang would "knowingly" or
"approvingly" reply with the second hemistich.
Apologies to the ladies for the vulgarness, and I do not wish to liken
anyone to a cigarette.....
Well, here goes:

  Thuo^'c ngon nu+?a hu't, ga'i d-e.p mo^.t con

(o^' = o with circumflex and acute accent [sharp tone mark];
 u+? = u with horn and questive [hoi] tone mark;
 u'/a' = u/a with acute accent [sharp tone mark];
 d-  = d with stroke across the upper part of the vertical stick;
 e.  = e with underdot [heavy tone mark];
 o^. = o with circumflex and underdot [heavy tone mark])

Lit.: 'cigarette tasty half smoke(d), girl beautiful one child'

i.e. 'A cigarette tastes its best when already smoked half way through,
      a woman is at the peak of her beauty when she's had one child'

Regards to all,   Waruno



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