Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Stick-in-the-mud, old-fashioned, hidebound: Describes a person who is excessively and rigidly attached to old ways, customs, or traditions, often refusing to accept new ideas or changes.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Ông ấy là một người nệ cổ, không bao giờ chịu dùng điện thoại thông minh. (He is a stick-in-the-mud who never agrees to use a smartphone.)
  • Tư tưởng nệ cổ có thể cản trở sự phát triển của xã hội. (An old-fashioned mindset can hinder societal development.)
  • Một ông thầy đồ nệ cổ. (An old-fogey of a Chinese scholar.)

Advanced Usage

• "nệ cổ hủ": This is a common extended form emphasizing an even more stubborn, obsolete, and pedantic attachment to antiquated customs. It intensifies the negative connotation.
  • Lối suy nghĩ nệ cổ hủ ấy không còn phù hợp với thời đại mới. (That hidebound way of thinking is no longer suitable for the modern era.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hủ lậu (adj): Obsolete, backward, antiquated. Often used interchangeably with but can sometimes emphasize being out-of-date rather than just stubbornly traditional.
• Cổ hủ (adj): Archaic, antiquated. Frequently combined with as .
• Bảo thủ (adj): Conservative. While sharing the idea of resisting change, can be a more neutral or political term, whereas is almost always pejorative.

Synonyms

• Cố chấp: Stubborn, obstinate. Focuses on the inflexibility rather than the attachment to the old.
• Khư khư: Clinging stubbornly (to something). Often used in the structure (to cling stubbornly to).

Related Idioms/Phrases

• Ôm khư khư cái cũ: To cling stubbornly to old things. This phrase visually describes the action of holding onto the old and is closely related to the concept of .
  • Không thể tiến bộ nếu cứ ôm khư khư cái cũ. (One cannot make progress if one keeps clinging stubbornly to old things.)
• Theo lối mòn: To follow the beaten path/rut. Refers to a lack of innovation and sticking to old, familiar methods.
  • Sáng tạo đòi hỏi phải dám thoát khỏi lối suy nghĩ nệ cổ và theo lối mòn. (Creativity requires the courage to break free from hidebound and rut-following thinking.)

1. Stick-in-the-mud, old-fogey
   • Một ông thầy đồ nệ cổ
     An old-fogey of a Chinese scholar