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> Like a squatting bat, hanging but looking down. Bats hang upside down from the tree and may be thought to have an inverted view of things. Refers to a comment or action that is clearly out of line; rarely said of a person who is present, since the implication is that of weak mindedness. |
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> 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. |
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> Like a fish in deep, clear water, eaten only with the eyes. Fish are not easily caught in clear water. The idiom applies to that which may be admired but not obtained, like an expensive item or another man's beautiful sweetheart. |
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> It's like the foam of the sea, which forms unexpectedly and then disappears. It's a matter that comes up for lengthy discussions and then is dropped without resolution or effect. Some things, like sea foam, drift on without settlement. Endless discussion without reaching agreement. |
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> It's like the case of Beriber and Chemaredong (who for a long time lived in adjacent caves unaware of each other's existence but who finally discovered each other and began to share their surpluces). People wasting things and not sharing or cooperating as they should. Cooperative reciprocity among equals should be patterned on that exemplified by these two men. Beriber, who harvested coconut syrup, and Chemaredong, who was an expert fish trapper, lived in two small caves near the village of Oikuul in Airai (central Palau). These caves are side by side, separated by a natural wall about one foot thick. However, for a long time the neighbors did not know that the other existed. Finally, they discovered one another, and from that time on they engaged in mutually profiitable exchange of their surpluses in fish and syrup. An elder source said that this is more than a proverb (blukul a tekoi) and referred to it as ollach idnger, the "law of neighborliness." |
