kom
/ko
, pro.you (nonemphatic, plural).
ko
a
ko
ko
mo
er
ker
e
ko
mla
Examples:
> Toki's party was just getting interesting when it ended.
> You're like a starling (i.e. you do something undesirable and later deny it or make excuses about it).
> Something's wrong between Satsko and Tony.
> I'm leaving, but I don't know if I really want to (lit., my heart keeps returning).
> Droteo spoke as if he wants to go to the party.
Proverbs:
> Like the Bilimbi tree which, if not shaken, will not bear fruit.
Applied to a person who does not fulfill their obligations without constant prodding or nagging.
> 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.
> Like the ilaot [coconut juice] of Ngetkib, mixing itself.
Probably of folk-tale derivation, the idiom may be applied to a man who has married too close to his own clan, thus not gaining the assistance of the wife's clan in food and services, since this would amount to the clan giving to itself. Also applied to a situation where a person expects to have some service performed for him but ends up doing it himself.
> It's like the way they eat in Ngeraus (where food is scarce): as soon as they get to like or enjoy the food, it's gone.
Just as something becomes popular, it becomes unavailable. Ngerraus is a small village in Ngchesar (central Palau). The idiom suggests a person who begins to feel hungry just as the food runs out. The reference is to the meager food resources of a small village. In contemporary Palau the idiom may be applied to some popular import that soon disappears from the shelves of the stores.
> Like a squatting bat, hanging but looking down.
Bats hang upside down from the tree and may be thought to have an inverted view of things. Refers to a comment or action that is clearly out of line; rarely said of a person who is present, since the implication is that of weak mindedness.
More Examples:
> John is really in a hurry; what's wrong?
> The silhouette of that woman is very attractive.
> It is weird being married. You're not on your own anymore. It's like something is attached to you all the time.
> We were walking fine on the road until a really fast car sped by that abruptly forced us into a ditch.
> You are like the clam of bengall, never moves an inch but always adored.

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