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:
> The wind/storm has abated.
> The rain's stopped.
> There is no more money.
> Why don't you sit down (lit., are you standing up because you don't have a bend in your legs)?
> It's not like the sickness that I have!
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.
> Title pride.
A title (dui, also "coconut leaf," which is sometimes used as the receptacle for a title pending the selection of a successor) is to be worn in humility, but a person who has just received a new title may sometimes be oppressively haughty or prideful.
> 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.
> 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.
> An ukall tree won't become a titimel tree.
i.e., a child will resemble its father; human nature will not change. The ukall, a lumber tree, resembles the titimel, a fruit bearing tree, at least to the extent that both are trees and become quite large. Both have assets but are quite different. The idiom is applied in the sense that a child resembles its father and will become what its father was. It may also be used to mean "human nature can't be changed."
More Examples:
> He does not ask us to do the impossible.
> Our leaders just don't have any compassion.
> My friend's wife can't drive now.
> Do you want to have lunch or dinner sometime?
> No, I'm going to school tomorrow.
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:
> This is making me very worried about Fern.
> We sort of became a little bit worried.
> Ulang weighs so little that she can be blown away by the wind.
> I am worried.
> I am so worried that I cannot speak.
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.
> 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 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.
> 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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