ชักแม่น้ำทั้งห้า
Meaning: To give a long-winded, roundabout justification before getting to the point.
Language: Thai
Literally: To invoke all five rivers
Category: Nature
Origin: Classical Thai rhetoric drawing on the five great rivers of ancient India to dress up a request at exhausting length.
Equivalents in other languages
- German: Um den heißen Brei herumreden — literally: To talk around the hot porridge
- French: Tourner autour du pot — literally: To turn around the pot
- English: beat around the bush — literally: to beat around a bush
More idioms — Nature
- Đứng núi này trông núi nọ — Never satisfied with what you have; the grass is always greener.
- Nước đổ lá khoai — Advice or effort that has no effect at all; in one ear and out the other.
- To rain on someone's parade — To spoil someone's plans or happy moment.
- Non ci piove — There's no doubt about it whatsoever.
- Het regent pijpenstelen — It is raining very heavily.
- 胸有成竹 (xiōng yǒu chéng zhú) — To have a well-formed plan ready before you begin.
More Thai idioms
- จับปลาสองมือ — To chase two goals at once and risk losing both.
- ตำน้ำพริกละลายแม่น้ำ — To squander resources for nothing.
- ขี่ช้างจับตั๊กแตน — To use enormous means for a trivial result.
- น้ำขึ้นให้รีบตัก — Seize an opportunity while it lasts.
From our proverbs
- Throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick — Regarding this "mud" term in particular, it may possibly reference a technique of buildin…
- Timing is everything — Seizing the right moment determines success more than effort or ability alone.
- To the victor go the spoils — Victory earns the right to claim rewards and resources from the defeated.