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> It's like when the men of Ngesias clamored over what they had lost (after a party of raiders had attacked without warning and taken a head as a trophy). The men of the Ngesias (Peleliu) village club were sitting near their clubhouse one evening when raiders broke through the brush, shouted wildly, and excaped with the head of one of them. When they recovered their senses, the men jumped to their spears and shouted threats into the darkness of the surrounding brush. Aroused by the commotion, the village chief appeared and ,when appraised of the situation, admonished them to be quiet since the fuss would gain nothing. "Don't cry over spilt milk." |
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> Like the green tree snake with a forked tongue (or simply, "Forked"). One who reverses himself, has two tongues, or whose tongue is forked like a snake. |
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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 coconut syrup. A general reference to incestuous relations. That this is a recent idiom, probably first used during the period of Japanese administration, is suggested by the Japanese word "ameyu," used in Palau to mean coconut syrup. The incident from which the idiom derives is said to be one in which a Palauan coconut-syrup maker had relations with his wife's sister. |
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> You're just like a lobster (flambuoyant in color but prone to hide under rocks. You dress up fancy but never go anywhere. Applicable to a person who prides himself on great wealth but does not put it to work; or to one who dresses to the hilt, then stays home. It may once have been applied to villages that were well armed, but peaceful. |
