dui, n.title (for village chief or family head).
dui
a
a
a
a
er
a
a
kuk
a
oba
diakn.poss.1s
diamn.poss.2s
dialn.poss.3s
a
dui
el
a
er
ng
el
a
dimamn.poss.1pe
diadn.poss.1pi
dimiun.poss.2p
dirirn.poss.3p
meluchel er a duiexpr.hold title.
Examples:
> I have no means or way to do it.
> I can't go.
> My money's run out.
> Droteo doesn't really know Japanese.
> We have no direction or organization.
Proverbs:
> 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.
> Like lightning, a big, unnecessary noise.
Lightning rarely strikes in such a way as to cause serious damage in Palau. May be applied to any unnecessary fuss or oratory at a meeting.
> You're like a floating log without a resting place.
You have no fixed abode.
> Like Kerosene, poling his canoe with no obvious destination
Under the German administrator Winkler before World War I, a Palauan named Ngirakerisil (Mr. Kerosene) was employed as a canoe operator. Daily he would take the tireless administrator to a different part of Palau to inspect the various economic programs (largely coconut planting) instituted by the now legendary Winkler. The operator, least of all, could predict where they would be going next. The idiom is applied to any aimless person or action; indecision; a changeable person.
> Without looking afield, it was cut down behind the house.
From the folk tale concerning Mesubed Dingal, the inventor of the Palauan kite (see also No. 73). After his wife had been kidnapped, he constructed a kite using feathers from all the birds of Palau and he needed also wood from an Edebsungel tree to fashion the body of the bird-kite. After looking all over Palau and being on the point of giving up, he found the tree he needed behind his own house. The saying may be applied to anyone who does things the hard way, or who goes far afield to find something which is close at hand.
More Examples:
> I'm borrowing money not less than a thousand dollars.
> He does not ask us to do the impossible.
> The value of such stone money is not only the sheer size of the discs, but the physical and treacherous labor of carving them, and then transporting them back to Yap via outrigger canoe.
> I'm not cold.
> No, it's not correct.
suebek, v.i.fly (out from).
a
a
ng
ng
mesebesebek
/mesesebesebek
v.i.redup.fly around aimlessly; float in the wind.
a
a
sobekangv.i.inch.is starting to fly.
a
a
sobekungv.i.pred.is about to fly.
a
a
bekesbesebek a rengulexpr.easily worried; worrisome.
suebek a rengulexpr.worried; anxious.
suebek el charmexpr.bird.
suebek el dialexpr.airplane.
See also: , ,
Examples:
> Peter became worried.
> Do you know that Ngeriungs is an important Bird Area in the world?
> Mothers tend to worry about their children.
> We sort of became a little bit worried.
> This is making me very worried about Fern.
Proverbs:
> Like the kingfisher, chattering while taking to wing.
The kingfisher, a restless, bullying bluebird, may be heard to chatter loudly when flying up from the ground or from a perch. The saying applies to one who suddenly spouts instructions to a group, then leaves, or to a leader at a meeting who impatiently interrupts a discussion with a burst of pronouncements, then ends the meeting.
> Like a pigeon-seeing the danger, yet it flies from cover
The pigeon sits quietly concealed until some threat appears, then it flies out, revealing itself. The idiom applies to a person who unnecessarily exposes himself to danger, leaves the house in the rain, or takes a boat out in a storm.
> You're like the stork which flies with its legs dangling.
You leave unfinished business behind and split.
> You're a flying kite, but i hold the guide string.
No matter how much you play around, you always come back to me.
> Like the purple swamp hen, flying off with its legs hanging down
The purple swamp hen (uek; other sources name another bird, sechou [heron]) is careless about its legs when it flies, letting them dangle in flight instead of neatly tucking them up like other, more trim flyers. The saying applies to persons who do sloppy work or carelessly leave a task half finished
More Examples:
> I was close to worrying everyone as I was a little late.

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