wai ming Posted January 11, 2007 at 10:50 AM Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 at 10:50 AM How would you say something like "serves you right" in Mandarin and Cantonese? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted January 11, 2007 at 11:48 AM Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 at 11:48 AM Would normally be 活该 in Mandarin. Here's the sample sentence from iciba.com 如果他真地要你当众收回海口，那你也是活该；你本不该那样自吹自擂。 which I quote mainly so I can follow up with the fantastic English. It serves you right if he did make you eat the leek in public; you should not be so boastful. 海口 here means bragging - don't recall seeing that before. The same can be said for 'eat the leek', which seems to be Shakespearian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wai ming Posted January 11, 2007 at 12:05 PM Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 at 12:05 PM Thanks for that Roddy. Those are some interesting expressions, indeed. My dictionary has a <口> next to the entry for 活該... are there any slightly less colloquial ways of saying "serves (someone) right"? (I know it's a pretty colloquial expression in English, but anyway...) I've heard that 抵死 is the Cantonese equivalent of 活該... are there any other ways of saying "serves (someone) right" in Cantonese? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted January 11, 2007 at 12:09 PM Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 at 12:09 PM In Cantonese, consider 抵你死 or 抵你o架. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie_monster Posted January 12, 2007 at 02:54 AM Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 at 02:54 AM 你应得的 is more like "you deserve it" but I think has the safe effect as "serves you right" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mugi Posted January 23, 2007 at 03:06 AM Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 at 03:06 AM If you want some four-character idioms, consider: 自作自受, 自食其果, 自食惡果 or 咎由自取. Some of these can probably be used in Cantonese too, although I'm sure there must be some other Cantonese-specific idioms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semantic nuance Posted January 23, 2007 at 07:55 AM Report Share Posted January 23, 2007 at 07:55 AM serve you right-(你)活該! serve him right-他活該! In Taiwanese, we say 你死好! Hope it helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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