|
> It's like the birth of a rat with one offspring per mother. It's something that happens just once, something I put up with only once. According to this saying, the rat bears but one litter. Hence the application "once is enough" about an act that bears no repeating. |
|
> You're like a stinkbug that burns itself in the fire. i.e., you get involved in things that may hurt you. |
|
> 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. |
|
> Like the weathervane at Saipan This is a new idiom, probably coming into the language as a result of changes in policy whereby Saipan, in the past couple of decades, has been in and out of the Trust Territory as administered by the Department of the Interior. Application is to the indecisive or changeable leader |
|
> Like the blow at Utaor, one stroke for all. A person or perhaps a club of the hamlet of Utaor (a hamlet of either Koror or Chol) offended a major village and, in consequence, the village retaliated by attacking the whole hamlet. The idiom applies to any general statement or punishment that might better be directed toward a particular group or individual |
