mlai, n.canoe; car; automobile; transportation.
a
er
a
me
a
a
a
me
a
mlikn.poss.1s
mlimn.poss.2s
mliln.poss.3s
a
er
el
mlimamn.poss.1pe
mlidn.poss.1pi
mlimiun.poss.2p
mlirirn.poss.3p
blil a mlaiexpr.garage.
mlai er a Siabalexpr.Japanese car.
Examples:
> There are a lot of complaints about the noise from cars.
> I'm just selling vegetables a little at a time, and then I'll (be able to) buy my car.
> We were pulling the broken car.
> I carved the canoe and then painted it.
> Joseph drove his car to my house.
Proverbs:
> Don't be like the man from Ngerchemai who lost both the turtle and the canoe.
Don't bite off more than you can chew...don't be selfish.
> Like the man of Ngerechemai, who lost his turtle and lost his canoe.
Relates to a fisherman who jumped from his canoe to catch a turtle only to find that his canoe had drifted beyond recovery. Applies to any situation where a person fails at a task, or, aptly, to a situation where a man, through his own foolishness, loses both his wife and his mistress.
> 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.
More Examples:
> There was a crash by the bridge. Nobody got hurt.
> I really don't know how to drive these Japanese cars.
> Do you know how to drive a car?
> I was driving to the store when I got a flat tire.
> I almost got ran over by a car riding my bicycle.

Search for another word: