quan cách

Ông ấy bước đi với quan cách khệnh khạng.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • The airs or mannerisms of a mandarin: Refers to a haughty, self-important, or pompous demeanor, reminiscent of the stereotypical bearing of a high-ranking official in historical Vietnam.
   • Bureaucratic airs: Describes an officious or pretentious way of carrying oneself, often implying someone is putting on airs of importance.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Anh ta có cái quan cách rất khó chịu. (He has a very unpleasant, pompous manner about him.)
  • Đừng có quan cách với người dân. (Don't put on bureaucratic airs with the common people.)

Advanced Usage

• The term is almost always used in a critical or derogatory sense to describe someone who acts superior or is overly formal in a self-aggrandizing way.

Variants and Related Words

• Quan liêu (adj/n): Bureaucratic; red tape. This refers more to systems and procedures than personal demeanor.
  • Thủ tục quan liêu. (Bureaucratic procedures.)

Synonyms

• Haughtiness: The appearance or quality of being arrogantly superior.
• Pomposity: The quality of being self-important.
• Officiousness: Assertive of authority in an annoyingly domineering way.

Related Idioms

• Làm quan cách: To put on the airs of a mandarin; to act pompously.
  • Ông ấy thích làm quan cách trước mặt cấp dưới. (He likes to put on the airs of a mandarin in front of his subordinates.)