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> Like the blowgun of Ngiraeuekelebid. Derived from a humorous and (in Palauan) phonetically funny verse: Eveninga pproachest,h e womenr eturnf rom the gardens. The koranges tree is swaying and the women, looking up, see Ngiraeuekelebid. Confuseda nd embarrassedh,e climbsd own and picks up his blow gun. His plan foiled. "All the men of the village use the blowgun in the mountains. Only Ngiraeuekelebidu ses his in the gardens. Surely, if he uses it in the gardens, he will hit the bull's eye in the crotch." Men are permitted in the taro gardens but only for some special purpose and by leave of the women who may be working there in the deep mud in minimal attire, sometimes with their grass skirts put aside. (Today they work in very old clothes.) Ngiraeuekelebid, leaving the village with his blowgun as though going hunting, climbed a koranges tree overlooking the gardens to spy on the women and was caught. A poor decision or plan that in the end proves embarrassing. |
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> Clinging at Ngerekemais. Long ago, when a canoe would approach the dock at Ngerekemais in Koror, the villagers are said to have run to the boat, clinging to it while searching for any small gift the visitors may have brought. The idiom may be applied to anyone groping too apparently for a gift. |
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> He's like Ngerechebal Island, which is neither closer to Imeliik nor closer to Ngerekebesang. i.e. He's indecisive or not clearly taking sides. A person who is "on the fence," changeable and indecisive. The saying may also be applied to a partly westernized Palauan. |
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> They are as though eating deldalech. Deldalech is the material once used to blacken teeth in Palau. When the deldalech was applied it was "eaten" by keeping the mouth and lips completely immobile for several hours until the dye had set. May be applied to a meeting at which some problem is presented for discussion and no discussion takes place, all the participants sitting in stony silence; also to a person or group that receives a reprimand in silence. |
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> You're like the Ngcheangel banana (meduch a ngerel). You're all talk and no action). |
