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> Like the blind man of Ngetmel, twisting twine into the fire. The image is that of a blind elder, warming his frail body beside the fire while twisting strands of fiber into twine against his thigh. Only as he pulls the finished twine away, he pushes it into the flames. The saying may be applied to any utterly pointless activity or dissipation of wealth. |
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> You're like the Ngcheangel banana (meduch a ngerel). You're all talk and no action). |
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> Like Ngiramesemong, rehashing what has been finished. Pertains to a person who repeatedly reminds another of past favors or continually recalls the mistakes of others. (My sources no longer recalled the episode or story from which this idiom derives.) |
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> Like the name of the bai at Chol: "Empty." A bai in the northern community of Chol is (or once was) called Medederiik, meaning "deserted" or "empty." The idiom may apply to a person without possessions, a poor man. |
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> It's like the foam of the sea, which forms unexpectedly and then disappears. It's a matter that comes up for lengthy discussions and then is dropped without resolution or effect. Some things, like sea foam, drift on without settlement. Endless discussion without reaching agreement. |