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> Like the uul [Cettria cantans?] with its house open, calling for rain. The uul may be heard to call out usually just before it rains; some say that it is calling for rain. This seems foolish, since the bird constructs its house with an opening at the top that will let rain in. A person who makes a decision or starts some action without adequate preparation is likened to the uul. |
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> I am sick with sebiil, but what about you? When frambesia (yaws; Palauan: kerrdik) was common in Palau almost everyone had the disease as a child, and commonly the entire body was covered with painful sores. When the infection covered the anal region it was known as sebiil. The saying implies that everyone has had sebiil, a painful and disgusting disease. Hence, "What makes you feel you're so good? |
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> Like seaweed at Kosiil, out with the tide and in with the tide. Kosiil is a location in the lagoon where the seaweed can be seen to bend in and out with the tide. The idiom is applied to a leader who is too flexible and unreliable. In the short form (Kora char ra Kosiil) it may simply mean, "I'll go along with what you decide." |
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> Like kaldos, putting medicine on a well place, rather than the injury. Kaldos is a medical treatment, said by some to have been learned from the Germans, in which medicine is applied to a parallel member of an injured part in a way that is supposed to transfer pain to an uninjured place. The idiom is applied to a decision or action that completely misses the point or problem. |
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> Filled to overflowing While directly applicable to overeating, the idiom is often applied to a person with too much work or too many projects. It can also refer to a person, or village, hopelessly oppressed by competitors. |
