Knowing idioms is useful in everyday conversation to sound more fluent and natural, as they can convey complex ideas briefly and add a layer of cultural richness to your language, making interactions more engaging and relatable.
ရောင်တော်ပြန်နှင့် ရောကျွတ်
/ raung taw pyannhang raw kyawat /
The Buddha’s relics will unite to form a complete figure representing liberation from samsara.
ရောင်တော်ပြန်လွှတ်ရာတွင် သတ္တဝါများ အကျွတ်တရားရနိုင်ကြသည် မဟုတ်ဘဲလျက် ထိုရောင် တော်ပြန်နှင့် ရောနှော၍ အကျွတ်တရားရသည်ဟု ပြောဆိုသကဲ့သို့ အခွင့်ကောင်းတစ်ခုနှင့် သက်ဆိုင် အကျုံးဝင်ခြင်း မရှိဘဲလျက် ပတ်သက် ဆက်စပ်လေဟန် ပြုမူ ပြောဆိုသည်။
ရောင်တော်ပြန် = သာသနာကွယ်ပမည့် အချိန်၌ မြတ်စွာဘုရား၏ ဓာတ်တော်အားလုံး စုဝေး၍ ဓာတုပရိနိဗ္ဗာန်ပြုသည့်အခါတွင် လွှတ်သည့် ရောင်ခြည်တော်။
Those who wait for easy gains without effort fail.
People who seek easy rewards without putting in hard work.
Those who rely on luck without making an effort
To be emancipated due to the efforts of another is a belief related to the relics of the Buddha. It is said that these relics, scattered across various locations, will one day come together to form a complete figure that will deliver the final sermon.
On this occasion, many people will have the chance to be freed from samsara, the cycle of birth and rebirth.
Emancipation signifies freeing individuals from restrictions and oppressive control, commonly associated with the liberation of enslaved people.
In Buddhism, it refers to liberation from samsara and achieving enlightenment (Nibanna) through ethical conduct, meditation, and wisdom, resulting in freedom from suffering and worldly attachments.
Consequently, anyone who does not put in diligent effort and merely waits for an easy opportunity to benefit themselves is referred to as someone who will be emancipated when the relics are reassembled.
This Myanmar idiom discusses a belief in Buddhist tradition regarding emancipation from samsara, the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It explains that the Buddha’s relics, believed to hold spiritual significance, will unite to form a complete figure that will impart an important message in a future event.
This moment is seen as a chance for many to escape the endless cycle of rebirth. However, the text critiques those who do not engage actively in their spiritual progress but instead wait for an effortless opportunity to gain benefits.
It emphasizes the importance of personal effort and diligence in seeking emancipation, suggesting that relying solely on the efforts of others is not a commendable path.
USAGES:
“Waiting for a handout.”
Definition: To expect help or benefits without making an effort on one’s own.
Example: “She often complains about her financial situation, but she’s just waiting for a handout instead of finding a job.”
“You can’t win the jackpot without buying a ticket.”
Definition: One must put in effort or investment to achieve success or rewards.
Example: “If you want to make it to the top, remember: you can’t win the jackpot without buying a ticket.”
“No pain, no gain.”
Definition: Without some effort or struggle, you won’t achieve anything worthwhile.
Example: “He’s been hitting the gym every day, and he knows that no pain, no gain!”
“The early bird catches the worm.”
Definition: Those who start early or work diligently are more likely to succeed.
Example: “She got a head start on her project, proving that the early bird catches the worm.”
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
Definition: Don’t focus all your efforts on one single venture; diversify your efforts.
Example: “When it comes to investments, it’s wise to diversify; don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
“God helps those who help themselves.”
Definition: People are more likely to succeed if they actively seek solutions rather than waiting passively.
Example: “If you want to succeed in your studies, remember that God helps those who help themselves.”
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Definition: If you don’t take risks or make efforts, you won’t achieve anything.
Example: “She decided to start her own business because nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
ရုံခါ
/joun kha/
“Shaking off the hall”
ဝင်ကြေးယူ၍ ရုံအတွင်း၌ ဇာတ်သဘင်စသည်ကို ခင်းကျင်းပြသသည်။ ရုံသွင်းတာကို သွားကြည့်ပါသတဲ့…
ရုံပွဲကို သန်းခေါင်ကျော်ခန့်တွင် မည်သူမဆို အခမဲ့ဝင်ရောက်ကြည့်ရှုခွင့်ပြုသည်…..
လက်မှတ် မရောင်းမီ ဇာတ်ရုံထဲရောက်နေသူအားလုံးကို အပြင်သို့ထွက်စေသည်။ ညနေ၆နာရီထိုး လျှင် ရုံခါတယ်……
To remove distractions and people who aren’t helping the cause.
To eliminate distractions and those who are not contributing to the goal.
To remove distractions and people who are not aligned with the purpose
“Shaking off the hall” refers to the process in Myanmar theatres where visitors are asked to leave before the paying audience enters, thus purging unnecessary individuals.
The Myanmar idiom “shaking off the hall” derives from the practices within traditional Myanmar theatre, where it is customary for non-paying visitors to observe the performance prior to the start of the show.
However, when the paying audience is permitted to enter, these visitors must vacate the space. This ritual serves not only as a means of maintaining the integrity of the experience for those who have paid but also as a metaphor for removing unwanted or superfluous individuals from a situation.
It conveys the idea that to maintain an appropriate and focused environment; one must sometimes eliminate distractions and those who do not contribute to the purpose at hand.
USAGES:
“Clear the deck”
Definition: To prepare for action by removing unnecessary items or distractions.
Example: “Before we tackle the new strategy, it’s essential to clear the deck of any irrelevant discussions.”
“Kick to the curb”
Definition: To discard or get rid of someone or something undesirable.
Example: “After he mismanaged the resources, she knew it was time to kick him to the curb.”
“Cut the fat”
Definition: To eliminate unnecessary elements to streamline a process.
Example: “The CEO emphasized the need to cut the fat from our presentations and stick to the main points.”
“Trim the excess”
Definition: To remove unnecessary parts to improve efficiency or clarity.
Example: “In order to maximize our resources, we need to trim the excess from our project plans.”
“Sweep out the rubbish”
Definition: To remove things or people that are no longer needed or beneficial.
Example: “In order to move forward, it’s crucial to sweep out the rubbish from our organization.”
“Do away with”
Definition: To eliminate or abolish something.
Example: “To enhance productivity, we should do away with practices that hinder our progress.”
“Send packing”
Definition: To dismiss someone or something decisively.
Example: “When their lack of effort became apparent, we had no choice but to send them packing.”
ရင်ဘောင်တန်း
/ rin bhaung tann/
To stand abreast
To try to level up with others who are more successful or accomplished.
To strive to be on par with others who are more skilled or better off.
To aim to rival or surpass others who are more accomplished or superior.
When people of equal height stand side by side in a row, their chests will be almost level. Therefore, trying to achieve the same position, stand on the same level, or attain a similar status as those who are more accomplished is referred to as “standing abreast” with others.
In Myanmar, the idiom “to stand abreast” means to strive to equal or match oneself with others who are superior or more successful.
The idiom “ရင်ဘောင်တန်း” (to stand abreast) is derived from the physical phenomenon where people of equal height standing side by side will have their breasts almost at the same horizontal level.
This idiom is used to convey the idea of trying to match oneself with others who are superior or more accomplished. It is often used to caution against trying to compete with those who are better than oneself, as it is a futile effort. Instead, one should focus on personal growth and development.
USAGES:
“Reach for the stars”
Definition: To aim high and strive for excellence.
Example: “In your career, always strive to be your best; reach for the stars and chase your dreams.”
“Keep up with the Joneses”
Definition: To try to equal or match oneself with others who are more successful or wealthy.
Example: “Instead of worrying about their fancy vacations, remember that we shouldn’t keep up with the Joneses; happiness comes from within.”
“Try to keep pace”
Definition: To attempt to match oneself with others who are faster or more accomplished.
Example: “As the industry evolves rapidly, we need to try to keep pace and adapt to the latest trends.”
“Measure up to”
Definition: To meet or match the standards set by others.
Example: “To secure that promotion, you must measure up to the high expectations set by your colleagues.”
“Compete with the best”
Definition: To try to match oneself with others who are considered the best in their field.
Example: “In order to grow, our startup needs to compete with the best and innovate constantly.”
“Rise to the challenge”
Definition: To accept and meet the standards set by others.
Example: “When faced with a difficult project, the team was determined to rise to the challenge and exceed expectations.”
“Match wits”
Definition: To try to equal or outdo others in intellectual pursuits or competitions.
Example: “In the upcoming quiz competition, our goal is to match wits with the top students and showcase our knowledge.” #TheGlobalNewLightOfMyanmar