Bite-Size Burmese: Twitchy Eyebrow, Itchy Heart

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