Since most us here are Southern Vietnamese, did you know that…

In Northern Vietnamese, khốn nạn = misery, miserable
In Southern Vietnamese, khốn nạn = you're a bastard!

In Northern Vietnamese, ốm = sick
In Southern Vietnamese, ốm = thin (of person)

A lying/bragging bastard
Northern Vietnamese say "bố láo"
Southern Vietnamese say "ba xạo"
(This is interesting because bố = ba, láo = xạo)

A cracked, oddish person
Northern Vietnamese say "dở hơi"
Southern Vietnamese say "cà chớn"

To bully
Northern Vietnamese say "bắt nạt"
Southern Vietnamese say "ăn hiếp"

Go pee
Northern Vietnamese say "đi tiểu" or "đi tè"
Southern Vietnamese say "đi đái"

To stumble
Northern Vietnamese say "ngã"
Southern Vietnamese say "té"

Tea
Southern Vietnamese say "trà".
Northern Vietnamese say "chè".
(So how do Northern Vietnamese call the "chè"?)

Northern Vietnamese call a big bowl "cái bát"
Southern Vietnamese call a big bowl "cái tô"

Northern Vietnamese call a spoon "cái thìa"
Southern Vietnamese call a spoon "cái muỗng"

Northern Vietnamese call a plate "cái đĩa"
Southern Vietnamese call a plate "cái dĩa" (pronounced: cai yia)

Northern Vietnamese call a short person "thấp"
Southern Vietnamese call a short person "lùn"

Fat in Northern Vietnamese is "béo" or "phì"
Fat in Southern Vietnamese is "mập"

Thin (of person) in Northern Vietnamese is "gầy"
Thin (of person) in Southern Vietnamese is "ốm"

Northern Vietnamese call flower "hoa"
Southern Vietnamese call flower "bông"

Northern Vietnamese call fruit "quả"
Southern Vietnamese call fruit "trái"

Northern Vietnamese call an apple "quả táo"
Southern Vietnamese call an apple "trái bom" (lmao, it sounds like bomb)

Northern Vietnamese call a pineapple "quả dứa"
Southern Vietnamese call a pineapple "trái thơm"

Northern Vietnamese call a custard-apple "quả na"
Southern Vietnamese call a custard-apple "trái mãng cầu"

Northern Vietnamese call a corn "ngô"
Southern Vietnamese call a corn "bắp"

Northern Vietnamese call an egg "quả trứng"
Southern Vietnamese call an egg "hột gà" (chicken egg) or "hột vịt" (duck egg)

Northern Vietnamese call a vase "cái lọ" (lọ hoa ~ a flower vase)
Southern Vietnamese call a vase "cái bình" (bình bông ~ a flower vase)

Northern Vietnamese call a purse "cái ví"
Southern Vietnamese call a purse "cái bóp"

Northern Vietnamese call old men, old women "ông lão, bà lão"
Southern Vietnamese call old men, old women "ông già, bà già"

Northern Vietnamese call little boy, little girl "thằng bé, con bé"
Southern Vietnamese call little boy, little girl "thằng nhỏ, con nhỏ"

Northern Vietnamese call a little child "trẻ con"
Southern Vietnamese call a little child "con nít"

Northern Vietnamese use "ông" and "bà" to call their grandparents.
Southern Vietnamese use "ngoại" and "nội" to call their grandparents (from ông/bà ngoại "maternal grandparents" and ông/bà nội "paternal grandparents").

Northern Vietnamese call a pig "con lợn"
Southern Vietnamese call a pig "con heo"

Northern Vietnamese call a tiger "con hổ"
Southern Vietnamese call a tiger "con cọp"

Northern Vietnamese call a panther/cougar/leopard "con báo"
Southern Vietnamese call a panther/cougar/leopard "con beo"

Northern Vietnamese call a notebook "quyển vở"
Southern Vietnamese call a notebook "cuốn tập"

Northern Vietnamese call a book "quyển sách"
Southern Vietnamese call a book "cuốn sách"

Northern Vietnamese call the train "tàu hỏa" or "tàu lửa"
Southern Vietnamese call the train "xe lửa"

Northern Vietnamese call a car "ô tô" (from the word "auto" ?)
Southern Vietnamese call a car "xe hơi"

"Curly" in Northern Vietnamese is "xoăn"
"Curly" in Southern Vietnamese is "quăn"

Stink
Northern Vietnamese say "thối"
Southern Vietnamese say "thúi"

To chase
Northern Vietnamese say "đuổi"
Southern Vietnamese say "rượt" (đuổi in Southern Vietnamese is used more in terms like đuổi việc "fired from a job", đuổi học "suspended from school")

Southern Viet khoai mì = Northern Việt củ sắn
Southern Viet củ sắn = Northern Việt củ đậu

Southern Viet bột ngọt = Northern Viet mì chính


Please add more if you know...

Asean
Northern Vietnamese say "Anh yêu em"

Xixon
Southern Vietnamese say "Em yêu anh"

Asean and xixon argue back and forth on how to say "I love you"

Northern: dze thuong
Southern: thuong dze

Thank you

Northern: Cảm ơn
Southern: Cám ơn

Born

Northern: Sinh ra
Souterhn xanh ra

how to tell your date to drive you around
North: em đèo anh đi đi
South: em chở anh đi đi
got that from Bang kieu

Northern Vietnamese call stalker "đồ 35"
Southern Vietnamese call stalker "đồ dê xòm"

^ đồ 35? I don't get it.

Got this from a Vietnamese website.

|- Northern || Central || Southern || English gloss
|-
| ''này'' || ''ni'' || ''nầy'' || "this"
|-
| ''thế này'' || ''ri'' || ''vầy'' || "thus, this way"
|-
| ''ấy'' || ''nớ'' || ''đó'' || "that"
|-
| ''thế'', ''thế ấy'' || ''rứa'' || ''vậy'' || "thus, so, that way"
|-
| ''kia'' || ''tê'' || ''đó'' || "that yonder"
|-
| ''kìa'' || ''tề'' || ''đó'' || "that yonder (far away)"
|-
| ''đâu'' || ''mô'' || ''đâu'' || "where"
|-
| ''nào'' || ''mô'' || ''nào'' || "which"
|-
| ''sao'', ''thế nào'' || ''răng'' || ''sao'' || "how"
|-
| ''tôi'' || ''tui'' || ''tui'' || "I, me (polite)"
|-
| ''tao'' || ''tau'' || ''tao'', ''qua'' || "I, me (arrogant, familiar)"
|-
| ''chúng tôi'' || ''bầy tui'' || ''tụi tui'' || "we, us (but not you, polite)"
|-
| ''chúng tao'' || ''bầy choa'' || ''tụi tao'' || "we, us (but not you, arrogant, familiar)"
|-
| ''mày'' || ''mi'' || ''mầy'' || "you ([[thou]]) (arrogant, familiar)"
|-
| ''chúng mày'' || ''bây'', ''bọn bây'' || ''tụi mầy'' || "you guys, y'all (arrogant, familiar)"
|-
| ''nó'' || ''hắn'', ''nghỉ'' || ''nó'' || "he/him, she/her, it (arrogant, familiar)"
|-
| ''chúng nó'' || ''bọn hắn'' || ''tụi nó'' || "they/them (arrogant, familiar)"
|-
| ''ông ấy'' || ''ôông nớ'' || ''ổng'' || "he/him, that gentleman, sir"
|-
| ''bà ấy'' || ''mệ'', ''nớ'', ''bà nớ'' || ''bả'' || "she/her, that lady, madam"
|-
| ''cô ấy'' || ''o nớ'' || ''cổ'' || "she/her, that unmarried young lady"
|-
| ''chị ấy'' || ''ả nớ'' || ''chỉ'' || "she/her, that young lady"
|-
| ''anh ấy'' || ''eng nớ'' || ''ảnh'' || "he/him, that young man (of equal status)"

girls useto say 35 con dê to a flirting guy, I don't know where that words come from either

those are pretty good ones. Thanks for contributing

I see Northern Vietnamese use the word "chúng" for the plural forms of pronoun, Central Vietnamese use the word "bầy", and Southern Vietnamese use the word "tụi".

Is it just me or the Northern Viet ones always sound more "formal"? I mean when we write a letter or an essay, we would use chúng nó instead of tụi nó, cô ấy instead of cổ and so on. Does it have anything to do with the fact that our capital is in Hanoi and all the schoolbooks for Vietnamese children are from Hanoi? I mean if our capital was in Hue, would we think Central language is the formal one instead of the Northern one?

obviously us northerners sound waaaay cooler and sexier

^ I'm sorry to burst your bubble but you're more like a white-washed Vietnamese American than a true Northern Vietnamese

And what have you surmised me to be?

^ I don't know whether you can speak, read, and write Vietnamese to make any judgment about you.

the difference between northen and southern vietnam is simple..

the nort eat their dog. and they are not trustworthy . plus their accent sound like me taking a $hit..

ma'u 35 = pervert

we're talking about vocabularies and their meaning rather than accents

btw northern viet accent sounds very nice and sophisticated to my ears

Wow, I didn´t really know that central vietnamese is really different than the others dialects.

What is the Northern equivalent of "nha^u." or is there none?

the closest I could think of is "ăn cỗ"
as in...

Bực mình chẳng muốn nói ra.
Muốn đi ăn cỗ chẳng ma nào mời!
(Old Northern joke)

Yea. Out of the three, Central Vietnamese is the most different from others. Northern Vietnamese and Southern Vietnamese can understand each other fine but they do have some problem understanding a native Central Vietnamese.

From what I learned
Central Viet mô = Northern/Southern Viet nào or đâu
Central Viet răng = Northern/Southern Viet gì

Central Viet rứa? What is the Northern/Southern Viet equivalent for Central Viet rứa?


I watch gặp nhau cuối tuần and I saw people there say "nhậu" just like Southern Viet.

Here's my questions.
How do you say "đái dầm" in Northern and Central Viet? You don't say "tiểu dầm" or "tè dầm", do you?
What is the Northern Viet equivalent for Southern Viet "chè"?
What is the Northern Viet equivalents for Southern Viet "tững, mát, ba trợn"?

35 is the number of goats or something like that
during ancient time, the king could not choose the wife to sleep with. So he got on a wagon pulled by goats, wherever the goats stopped at, he would sleep with that lady. Usually, those wives tried to make their room full of spicy smell to attract the goats, so that they would stop at their rooms

35 is used in southern vietnam these days too.

"Đi nhậu" = " Đi nhắm rượu" in the North
"Đi đái" used in both North and South
"Đi giải" only heard in the old Hà Nội. ( = đi đái)
"Đi tè" only for kids ( as in going potty, peepee)
"Tè dầm" I believe my mother used it when I was little
"Ba trợn" = "láo liên" (?)

lol did they make up that story?

I think number 35 is the number for the goat in đánh đề. That's why.

Northern Viet say nhậu too just like the Southern Viet.

I never heard a Northerner say đái Are you sure you're a Northerner? I remember you also messed up some Northern/Southern dialect in another thread and every Viet here suspect whether you're a true Northerner as you claim yourself to be.

The story about the goat selecting the lady to bed the Emperor in any given night came from "Thanh Cung 13 Tri�u". Real story. About the number "35", I don't know where it came from.
"Con dê già" refering to an old man whose lewd conducts toward females can be classified as sexual harrassment nowaday.

Not a chance....I confirmed it w/ an 70s old grandma from Hanoi I met during my trip to Utah......she agreed w/ me.

BTW, remember one time I corrected you on the 2 lines:

"Gió đưa cành trúc la đà
Tiếng chuông Thiên Mụ, canh gà Thọ Xương"

I was also right.

However, your line of "Tiếng chuông Trấn Vũ, canh gà Thọ Xương" is also recorded. When I found the link for both, I will sent it to you.

^ LOL Thanh Cung 13 Triều is from China, not Vietnam. I thought she was talking about Vietnam

I think the word dê "goat" and dê "pervert" are just homonyms, like đường "sugar" and đường "street".

The original correct line is Tiếng chuông Trấn Vũ, but later some uninformed people got it wrong and changed it to Tiếng Chuông Thiên Mụ and then it was spread around.

If you look at the whole poem, tiếng chuông Thiên Mụ would OUT OF PLACE, because the whole poem was describing the scenery of North Vietnam and Thiên Mụ pagoda was in Central Vietnam.

@ Xigon
The old grandma I talked to was an old school teacher. She told me that "Tiếng chuông Thiên Mụ, canh gà Thọ Xương" had always been taught to children before the War and in the South during the war. However, probably Thiên Mụ was a place in Huế, part of the Southern territory during the war, therefore for sensitive issue the Northern government changed it to Trấn Vũ, a location in Hanoi. If you read the two lines, Thiên Mụ rythms much better.

Vua VN không có chuyện thả dê chạy rong, ok. Vua Tàu mới có tam cung lục viện, vài ngàn cung tần mỹ nữ.....mới có chuyện thả dê..để cho công bằng. Ngoài chuyện thả dê, làm sao thái giám biết người nào đêm đó không thể hầu vua được? Trước cửa phòng sẽ có cắm một thẻ bài nếu ngày đó người cung nữ có kinh nguyệt, không thể gần vua.

How long do you think that folk poem has been around? As I said, look at the whole poem. Thọ Xương was a district in Hanoi, Yên Thái is also some place around there, Tây Hồ is also in Hanoi, the whole poem is about the scenery of Hanoi. Why would you put Thiên Mụ in? It is out of place as I said. Both versions "trấn vũ" and "thiên mụ" have been around for a long long time but I believe Trấn Vũ is the original one. Your old grandma is probably among the people that were brought up hearing the latter Thiên Mụ version. Remember that words in ca dao can be changed easily so this should not be a surprised.

Rhyme better? Do you even know the tone rules in making lục bát poem? In general the 3rd word of the bát line is supposed to have a trắc tone (hỏi, ngã, sắc, nặng). Trấn has a sắc tone which fits into this rule perfectly. Thiên has a ngang (which belongs to the bằng category) but it's tolerable because it's not an even number word (2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th). Still Trấn Vũ fits the tone rule better than Thiên Mụ.

edit: sorry I had an awkward moment and messed up Yên Thái with Yên Bái

Ok, believe what you want to.....

Can you prove which one is the original? If you can do that.....I will be as they say...."tâm phục, khẩu phục".... BTW, I don't know much about rythming rule of Viet poems. Not my forte!!! (I am not about going into terra incognita here)

con dê = noun
dê (gái) = verb

Maybe they, Central Vietnamese, are more related to the Muong ethnic or maybe Chams


Post#8 FTW, Didn't you read it?


đái mế

Ok, good to know that it's a national Vietnamese concept.

hey vietnam, you have no proof to say Thiên Mụ was the original one either, but BASED ON LOGIC, anyone with a brain should be able to tell that Trấn Vũ is the correct one because the whole poem was describing the scenery of Hanoi, why the hell would Thiên Mụ of Central Vietnam get in there?

Gió đưa cành trúc la đà
Tiếng chuông Trấn Vũ canh gà Thọ Xương
Mịt mù khói tỏa nghìn sương
Nhịp chày Yên Thái mặt gương Tây Hồ

The poem is obviously a picture of Tây Hồ and the surrounding landscape in the morning. Every poem needs inspiration, reading this poem you can imagine the "author" of the poem stood beside Tây Hồ one morning, inspired by the beautiful scenery and composed this poem. If you place Thiên Mụ in there the whole poem would be awkward. Every poem has a meaning or a purpose. Tell me how you interpret the meaning of this poem if Thiên Mụ was there instead of Trấn Vũ!

oh and if you don't know the rules for lục bát poem then how could you say Thiên Mụ fits in better than Trấn Vũ? It's obviously the other way around.

@cuteo: sorry I missed it

"đái dầm" is north VN too
"tững, mát, ba trợn"? ga`n, do hoi, deu, leu lao, ro, xo la'....

^ thanks


Nonsense
Northern Viet say "vớ vẩn"
Southern Viet say "tầm bậy"

What is Northern Viet equivalent to Southern Viet nhảm nhí and tầm phào?

BTW no one answered my question. How do Northern Viet call this delicious stuff?

They can't call it chè because chè in Northern dialect means 'tea', right?

i dont know
but i know what they call a beautiful person,
"Tram"

^ you're always lame and off topic (in a lame way)

sao em hung ho voi anh vay?

To tell on someone
Northern Viet: "mách"
Southern Viet: "méc"

To tell (someone to do something)
Northern Viet: "bảo"
Southern Viet: "biểu"

"yes" politely

North: da vang a
South: da

pregnant
Northern Viet: "có mang" or "có chửa"
Southern Viet: "có bầu" (is it because when women are pregnant, their bellies look like trái bầu?)

I put the question up for answer from one of the academic sites about VN culture. (I am very curious about this, too) Be patient, when I receive an answer I will post it here. (some times we do need a 3rd opinion )

As you admited before, there are 2 versions of this two-lines ca dao. Two-lines ca dao is very common in VN. However, to say it wrong by quoting the entire poem (which it doesn't belong in the first place) and proves its inconsistency w/ the other verses/words around it is not convincing to me. As long as I remember reading this ca dao, Thiên Mụ, there are only 2 lines. That's it. It had never been part of any poem. (I may also be wrong here, but again I have put a question out there. Maybe some one who is an expert in ca dao, tục ngữ will tell me the origin of both versions)

If it happens that you are wrong, will you eat your own words for calling people brainless?

Why don't you give me the link to that site so I can talk to the people there? I don't trust you because you'd probably post the answer that supports your stand and ignore other answers.

You are so khap khieng. Just because 2-line ca dao are more common it doesn't mean this ca dao has two-line. No where in my post did I say this ca-dao has two line, and how dare you say it has only two lines when it obviously has four lines? And why do you avoid my question? What is the meaning of this ca dao if the word Thien Mu is there instead of Tran Vu?

Let me see
Gió đưa cành trúc la đà
Tiếng chuông Thiên Mụ canh gà Thọ Xương

^^^ What the heck is that ca dao about? It can't be describing some scenery in Central Vietnam because Tho Xuong is a place in Hanoi. It can't be describing some scenery in Hanoi either because Thien Mu is a pagoda in Central Vietnam. So what the heck is that ca dao? mèo chẳng ra mèo, chó chẳng ra chó


Gió đưa cành trúc la đà
Tiếng chuông Trấn Vũ canh gà Thọ Xương

^^^ Trấn Vũ is in Hanoi, Thọ Xương is also in Hanoi. This one obviously describing the scenery of a corner of Hanoi. The next two lines of the ca dao further support this.

Mịt mù khỏi tỏa nghìn sương
Nhịp chày Yên Thái mặt gương Tây Hồ

Yên Thái is a village in Hanoi, Tây Hồ is a famous lake in Hanoi.

So all the place names in this ca dao are địa danh of Hanoi. Placing Thien Mu there would be out of place.

Now my question for you. Are you really a Hanoian as you always claim? If you are a Hanoi why the heck don't you know that Thọ Xương and Yên Thái are old street names of Hanoi?

Let me help you google

Thọ Xương
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=T...amp;btnG=Search


Trấn Vũ --- this is Trấn Vũ temple in Hanoi...there is also a street call Trấn Vũ in Hanoi
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doanlethuyduo...319969/sizes/o/

Yên Thái is a village near the West Lake in Hanoi
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Y...amp;btnG=Search
http://www.footprintsvietnam.com/Travel_Ne...Buoi-Market.htm



I think you have already shown everyone that you're a FAKE Hanoian.

This ca dao is obviously about the beautiful and peaceful picture of Hanoi in the morning. Only some uninformed people would mistakenly place the word Thien Mu in there.

because of the goat's image, people later use it as a verb

Be patient now..... There is no need for personal attack ( I won't do the same to a 17 years old girl). This is only an academic matter. I will post the answer when I receive one. Insulting me only makes you looking bad as a future mod.

^ As I said why don't you give us the link to that website? What do you have to hide? See? You always avoid the important questions. I asked you what is the meaning of the ca dao if the word Thiên Mụ was there instead of Trấn Vũ and you ingored that question TWICE. I asked you to give me the link to that so called academic website and you also ignored it.

What I did was logically explain you why the Trấn Vũ version was right and educate you about places in Hanoi. Clearly you have nothing to rebut my argument.
1. You can't explain why Thiên Mụ version is right
2. You can't explain why Trấn Vũ version is wrong

Unlike you, I have the capability to support my stand
1. I can logically explain why Thiên Mụ version is wrong
2. I can logically explain why Trấn Vũ version is right

What is insulting? Calling some people "uninformed" is insulting?