Twitchy eyebrow? Itchy sole? According to Burmese superstition, twitching eyebrows may be an omen of good fortune or financial ruin, depending the exact spot of the twitch, also on who you ask. And an itch in the sole might be a sign of imminent travel. မျက်ခုံးလှုပ်တယ် (the eyebrow twitches) and ခြေဖဝါးယားတယ် (the sole itches) are also expressions people might use to convey worry and anxiety or wanderlust and the itch to travel, so even if you don't plan on visiting a fortuneteller, it's a good idea to add them to your vocabulary and learn to use them correctly.
Sometimes the itch is not in the sole but in the heart. The expression အသည်းယားတယ် (the heart itches) is the Burmese equivalent of "I can't stand it! I can't bear it!" The sight of an adorable baby or puppy might make an English speaker feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but for a Burmese speaker, the common response is an itch in the heart.
In this episode of Bite-Size Burmese, I discuss the circumstances in which you might encounter these phrases, along with examples. (Image: AI-generated in ChatGPT; Music: "Sunshine Dreams" by Kaazoom, Pixabay)
Vocabulary
မျက်ခုံး eyebrow
လှုပ်တယ် to shudder, to move
မျက်ခုံးလှုပ်တယ် the eyebrow twitches
ခြေဖဝါး sole, the underside of the foot
လက်ဖဝါး palm, the underside of the hand
ယားတယ် to itch
ခြေဖဝါးယားတယ် the sole itches
အသည်း (also written အသဲ) heart
အသည်း (အသဲ) ယားတယ် the heart itches
Have a question about a Burmese word or phrase you heard here? Send us a message.
