bai
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, n.
village meeting house; guest house; community house.
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biln.poss.3s
bai er a rubakexpr.bai for old men only.
kebtot el baiexpr.twin bai; two bais adjacent to each other.
See also:
Examples:
> The storm missed Palau.
> Shall we visit her tonight?
> Move a little away (from me).
> I like coffee more than tea.
Proverbs:
> You're like the bisech plant in the backyard which has no purpose.
A person who isn't trusted so he/she is not needed.
> 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.
> Like the name of the community house at Ngerekabesang: "Buttressed."
At Ngerekabesang in Koror (central Palau) there is a community house (bai) called Telkakl, which means "to buttress" or "to be buttressed." Some of the older bai in Palau were thus supported with beams from the ground to the eaves, and the implication has been added that a bai so supported must be very full of important possessions. This idiom is used of a person who is wealthy, or of one's self, meaning that one has cash on hand.
> Child of the clubhouse.
In former times, when Palauan women would sometimes serve as companions to the men of clubs in villages other than their own, a woman occasionally became pregnant. While pregnancy during this service, or as a result of it, was considered bad form, a child so conceived was not considered "illegitimate" but was differentiated in degree by this idiom.
More Examples:
> There was a farewell party at the community house last night.
> I want you to be direct with me instead of prolonging it.
> I think we should make coconut oil.
> I think there should be a curfew on land and have flights only come in during the day like before.
> I should buy me a motorcycle.

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