"The gentleman has hairy legs, the petty man has hairy belly" or "The gentleman has shallow legs, the petty man has shallow belly" are all familiar sayings spread among the people.
"Both of these versions have not been recognized," said Associate Professor Dr. Pham Van Tinh, Director of the Center for Vietnamese Studies.
The dictionary of proverbs lists "A gentleman has thick leg hair, a petty person has thick belly hair" and another variation is "A petty person has thick belly hair, a gentleman has thick leg hair", but does not recognize other versions.
Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Van Tinh, Director of the Center for Vietnamese Studies. (Photo: FBNV).
In the dictionary, "hairy belly" is a common trait in petty people, and "hairy legs" is a common trait in gentlemen.
The above proverb comes from the folk experience of physiognomy. The ancients often looked at physiognomy through many aspects, such as face, gait, leg hair, and belly hair.
That saying is just a concept because the nature of belly hair and leg hair does not reflect a person's character. The distinction between a gentleman and a petty person is a Confucian way of distinguishing.
A gentleman is considered a respectable, decent, knowledgeable and well-behaved person. On the contrary, a petty person is mean-spirited, narrow-minded and petty.
"The gentleman is shallow-minded, the petty person is narrow-minded" is incorrect because there is no opposition between the two parts. The nature of the part 'The gentleman is shallow-minded' has no meaning, while the part 'The petty person is shallow-minded' can still be interpreted as narrow-minded," Mr. Tinh added.
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