Definition

1. Adjective (descriptive reduplicative):
   • Leisurely, slow, and dragging: Describes an action or process performed at an excessively slow, unhurried, and often irritating pace, with a sense of dragging things out.
   • Dilatory, procrastinating: Characterizes a manner of working that involves unnecessary delay and a lack of urgency.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Làm cà rịch cà tang như thế, biết bao giờ thì xong? (Working at such a slow, dragging pace, when will it ever be finished?)
  • Nó cứ đi cà rịch cà tang, chúng tôi sẽ bị trễ mất. (If he keeps walking so slowly and dragging his feet, we will be late.)
  • Tiến độ dự án đang tiến hành một cách cà rịch cà tang. (The project's progress is moving at a sluggish, dilatory pace.)

Advanced Usage

• The phrase "cà rịch cà tang" is a vivid, onomatopoeic reduplicative compound. It is often used in informal or colloquial contexts to express frustration or criticism towards someone's slow speed or lack of efficiency.
• It functions as an adverbial phrase when describing a verb, but is classified here as a descriptive adjective as it characterizes the of an action.

Variants and Related Words

• Chậm chạp (adj): slow, sluggish.
  • Thái độ làm việc chậm chạp (a slow working attitude)
• Lề mề (adj): tardy, dilly-dallying.
  • Đừng có lề mề nữa! (Stop dilly-dallying!)

Synonyms

• Leisurely (often with a negative connotation of being too slow).
• Sluggish.
• Dilatory.
• Procrastinating.

Related Idioms and Expressions

• Kéo dài lê thê: to drag on and on.
  • Buổi họp kéo dài lê thê. (The meeting dragged on and on.)
• Làm việc kiểu rùa bò: to work at a snail's pace (literally: "to work in a turtle-crawl style").
  • Với kiểu làm việc rùa bò này, cả tháng cũng không xong. (With this snail's pace work style, it won't be done even in a month.)

adj

1. Leisurely
   • làm cà rịch cà tang như thế, biết bao giờ thì xong?
     at such a leisurely pace, when will the work be done?