Friday, November 19, 2010

Vietnamese Idioms

There are many Vietnamese idioms that have the same meaning as common English idioms. One such idiom is, "That's like the cat calling the dog's butt hairy." This is the equivalent to, "The pot calling the kettle black." For those who don't know either of these idioms, they basically refer to when someone calls someone out for something that they themselves are guilty of.

Welllllllll, I finally got to use "That's like the cat calling the dog's butt hairy" on Huyen. You see, a few times this year, Huyen has lectured me on keeping my foot on the brake of my motorbike. She said that the guy at the shop says I must be resting my foot on the brake which has caused the brake pad to wear down at a faster rate than usual. I must admit that I do often keep my foot gently on the brake because 1) there's really no place else to put my foot 2) I don't mind replacing the brake pad a little sooner if it means I can brake a little sooner in crazy traffic.

The other day though when Huyen and I hauled stuff back to her parents' house, I noticed something on the highway. What can you see in this picture of Huyen driving down the highway:



You should have noticed that her brake light is on with nothing but an open road in front of her. Clearly someone has their foot on the brake! Indeed that's like the cat calling the dog's butt hairy.