Tha? Vo? Qui't A(n Ma('m Nga^'u

["Prof TT Nguyen (Economics)" <nguyen2@watserv1.uwaterloo.ca>]

In his collection of short stories DDo^.i Mu~ Le^.ch, Kha'i Hu+ng used
the Vietnamese phrase:

	Tha? Vo? Qui't A(n Ma('m Nga^'u

as a title of the first story. This phrase must have its origin in some
local region in the north (probably Ha` No^.i). I have no idea of what
this phrase is supposed to mean.

Since this list has quite a few people from the north and the current
"hot" topic is about ru+o+.u bia and ma('m ru+o+u, I would appreciate if
anyone can provide some explanation about meaning of this phrase. 

Is "nga^'u" some kind of baby crabs or shrimps? Is it the same thing as
"ru+o+u" ? Why do you need vo? qui't (tangerine peel)? Is that for
neutralizing the seafood taste?


On Thu, 27 Feb 1997, Hong Lam Vu wrote:
> [...]
> - To^i dduo+.c a(n ruo+i tu+. thuo+? be', nay chi? co`n nho+' la` ra^'t
> ngon. Na(m na`o a(n quy't cu~ng nho+' pho+i kho^ vo? dde^? dde^'n mu`a
> thi` phu.c vu. ruo+i. Va^.y ma` ho^?ng tha^'y cu. VB nha('c dde^'n vo?
> quy't. La.i tha^'y cu. nha('c dde^'n _nie^?ng_ ddo' la` ca'i chi va^.y?
> Ba'c na`o bie^'t cho anh chi. em va`i mo'n cyber ruo+i ddi, cha? ruo+i,
> ma('m ruo+i, ruo+i ra'n, etc... Va=B4 xin cho bie^'t khi a(n ruo+i pha?i
> uo^'ng gi` mo+'i ho+.p.