lo bò trắng răng

Vietnamese edit

Etymology edit

Literally, "to worry that a cow's teeth are white".

Most Kinh people in the old days, regardless of status, dyed their teeth black. This idiom implies that a person feels uneasy that their cow's teeth are not dyed, although it is a livestock, not human.

Pronunciation edit

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [lɔ˧˧ ʔɓɔ˨˩ t͡ɕaŋ˧˦ zaŋ˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [lɔ˧˧ ʔɓɔ˦˩ ʈaŋ˦˧˥ ʐaŋ˧˧]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [lɔ˧˧ ʔɓɔ˨˩ ʈaŋ˦˥ ɹaŋ˧˧]

Verb edit

lo bò trắng răng

(idiomatic) to needlessly worry