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> They are as though eating deldalech. Deldalech is the material once used to blacken teeth in Palau. When the deldalech was applied it was "eaten" by keeping the mouth and lips completely immobile for several hours until the dye had set. May be applied to a meeting at which some problem is presented for discussion and no discussion takes place, all the participants sitting in stony silence; also to a person or group that receives a reprimand in silence. |
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> Like seaweed at Kosiil, out with the tide and in with the tide. Kosiil is a location in the lagoon where the seaweed can be seen to bend in and out with the tide. The idiom is applied to a leader who is too flexible and unreliable. In the short form (Kora char ra Kosiil) it may simply mean, "I'll go along with what you decide." |
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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 Beachedarsai's food, only a little but it does not disappear. Beachedarsai and a friend, one day, went to heaven. On arrival they were very hungry, so they visited one of the gods who provided food for them. The "food" was one tiny piece of taro and a bit of fish. Beachedarsai thought to himself that this would hardly suffice, but he picked up the taro and ate it. As he did so another piece appeared on the plate. He ate the piece of fish and another piece of fish appeared. His friend also ate and on his plate as well a new piece of taro or fish appeared as each was consumed. When they were satisfied, there remained on their plates a piece of taro and fish. The idiom is applied to any small blessing, such as a small but steady income, or Western meals that, in contrast with the Palauan tray full of food, are served in small portions, and so on. |
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> He's like Chelebesoi of Ngeriil, dead in a fishtrap not his own. A man named Chelebesoi (also the name of a fish) was robbing another man's fish trap when a head-hunting party came by and removed his head. He lost both his head and his reputation. The idiom may apply to one who gets hurt while trying to do someone else's job. |
