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 meat is to be roasted and eaten with bitter herbs and with bread made without yeast.
> The religion of these people is worthless.
> He doesn't want to go.
> I don't have any room to get into the bus.
> His family and the villagers were quite surprised at the boy's sudden good health and quick recovery.
Proverbs:
> 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.
> 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.
> 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.
> You're like a floating log without a resting place.
You have no fixed abode.
> 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.
More Examples:
> Honey, cant you pound some taro so we could eat?
> Nobody loves me.
> A lot of talk but no action.
> I was driving to the store when I got a flat tire.
> No, so I really have to study tonight.
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:
> We sort of became a little bit worried.
> You look really happy or elated.
> This is making me very worried about Fern.
> I am so worried that I cannot speak.
> Mothers tend to worry about their children.
Proverbs:
> 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
> You're like the stork which flies with its legs dangling.
You leave unfinished business behind and split.
> 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.
> 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.
More Examples:
> I was close to worrying everyone as I was a little late.

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