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> That man is like a duck. The native duck, debar, doesn't fly very well, or high like other birds, it doesn't walk or run like some animals, it can't sing well, and it doesn't swim as well as a fish. But it can do all these things. Applied to a person who seemingly can do many different things, none of them expertly. "Jack of all trades." |
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> Eating like laib-while eating, burying. The laib, a bird with a long, white tail, according to lore eats ripe fruit in season, as other birds do, but also gathers scraps dropped by other birds and buries them. When other birds are hungry, the laib will dig up the scraps and eat them. Hence, one should plan ahead for lean times. |
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> He's like the road in Ngerebodel (which doesn't go anywhere in particular) i.e. he's expanding a lot of effort but not getting anywhere. There was once, in the hamlet of Ngerebodl (in Koror, central Palau), reputedly a very fine boulder path which began and ended nowhere in particular. The idiom may describe a person who seems to be working hard toward no apparent objective |
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> You're like a stinkbug that burns itself in the fire. i.e., you get involved in things that may hurt you. |
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> Like a racing canoe of Ngerchelong, fast by word of mouth. Apparently refers to a canoe race of the past when a club of Ngerchelong lost after having given verbal display of greatness. Refers to the bluff or braggart (all-mouth, no action). |
