mạt cưa mướp đắng

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Vietnamese

Alternative forms

Etymology

From mạt cưa (“sawdust”) +‎ mướp đắng (“bitter melon”).

Earliest extant attestation of this figure of speech is in the poem "Tuơng phùng (Chance Meeting)" in Hồng Đức quốc âm thi tập (Collection of poems in our nation's language in the Hồng Đức era (1470 - 1497 CE)) (Vol. 3, folio 58b):

  • Mướp đắng khen ai đổi mạt cưa.
    Praiseworthy is anyone who trades sawdust for bittermelon.

Pronunciation

Noun

mạt cưa mướp đắng

  1. (idiomatic) deceiver, swindler, fraudster, scammer
    • 1820, Nguyễn Du (阮攸), Truyện Kiều (傳翹) [The Tale of Kieu], Liễu Văn Ðường edition, published 1866, lines 811–812:
      情(Tình)期(cờ)拯(chẳng)限(hẹn)麻(mà)年(nên)
      𩈘(Mạt)鋸(cưa)𦲾(mướp)䔲(đắng)堆(đôi)邊(bên)󰜋(một)坊(phường)
      They got acquainted with each other by chance without premeditation. What a couple, sawdust(-seller) and bitter-melon(-vendor), two of the same ilk!
    • 2010, Nguyễn Văn Thịnh, Thời Bi Tráng (A Woeful and Majestic Time), Chapter 8
      Cùng phường mạt cưa mướp đắng cả! – Ông giáo cười khẩy:… Dù Diều hâu hay Bồ câu, đều phải vì nước Mỹ, lợi thì vơ vào, bất lợi thì phải nhả ra thôi!
      "They're all deceivers and swindlers!" Snickered the Professor: "Whether hawks or doves, they must all act in the United States' interests; if they could profit, they'd hog everything; if they could not profit, they'd spit it all out!"

References

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