Definition

1. Verb:
   • To cry (goods): To announce or advertise goods for sale by calling out loudly in a public place, typically as a street vendor.
   • To peddle (an idea, a lure): To promote or try to sell something intangible, like an idea or a false promise, often in a persistent, loud, or deceptive manner.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Người bán hàng rong bán rao những món đồ chơi. (The street vendor cried his toys for sale.)
  • Họ bán rao chủ nghĩa dân tộc cực đoan như một giải pháp. (They peddle extreme nationalism as a solution.)

Advanced Usage

• The term often carries a critical or negative connotation when referring to the promotion of abstract concepts, implying the thing being sold is of dubious value or is a deceptive lure.

Variants and Related Words

• Rao hàng (v): to hawk goods, to call out to sell items. This is a more neutral synonym for the commercial act.
  • Cô ấy rao hàng trên phố. (She hawks goods on the street.)

Synonyms

• To hawk: To offer goods for sale by calling out in the street.
• To peddle: To try to sell goods or ideas, especially by traveling or in a small-scale, persistent way.
• To tout: To attempt to sell something or persuade someone of its merits in a forceful or persistent way.

Related Idioms

• Bán rao dân chủ: To peddle/ballyhoo democracy. This idiom criticizes the act of promoting democracy as a hollow slogan or deceptive promise.
  • Đó chỉ là trò bán rao dân chủ giả tạo. (That is just a farce of peddling fake democracy.)

verb

1. To cry
   • Bán lạc rang rao
     to cry roast ground-nuts, to be a roast groundnut vendor

noun

1. Ballyhoo
   • trò hề bán rao dân chủ của những kẻ độc tài khát máu
     the farcical ballyhoo of democracy of the bloodthirsty dictators