Horse horse tiger tiger: slang and idioms

[smithsgj]

like 他媽的. I just don't get what can possibly be rude about these! Any origin known?

[skylee]

like 他媽的. I just don't get what can possibly be rude about these! Any origin known?

Take a look at Lu Xun's 論"他媽的".

[ananda]

like 他媽的. I just don't get what can possibly be rude about these! Any origin known?

a dirty word omitted here-"vagina", some rudest people will give

the full expression.

[Lu]

Who can tell me what 半斤八两 is? It's probably not a very nice word but I'd like to know :-/

[Quest]

Who can tell me what 半斤八两 is? It's probably not a very nice word but I'd like to know :-/

In the old times(and still in HK),

半斤=八两

because 1斤=16两.

So 半斤八两 means metaphorically the strength(skill,power,etc) of two people(things etc) is roughly equal, neither is stronger or weaker.

It is a perfectly nice word to use, nothing offensive or derogatory.

[smithsgj]

"Six of one and half a dozen of the other", in English.

[Guest Ratamahatta]

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I'm staying in Taiwqan for the moment and hear quite a lot of popular slang here.

First about the word 酷 ku4 for "cool". New popular words are 吊 diao4 and 讚 zan4 (the latter actually coming from 閩南話 taiwanese). 讚 has apparently only since recently come in use.

For the ones that want some words about males: 娘娘腔 niang2 niang2 qiang1 which is used for a guy who behaves in a girly way, you could translate it as 'Nancy boy' or 'Sissy' (I just forgot about the word used for girls acting manly).

On the post of xoyopai...a lot of the times before 你娘 they will put the word 幹 gan4 which in Taiwan is commonly used for the most used English word and can also be used by itself (altough indeed really seldom used even the normal use of the word "to do" is now often avoided).

I also heard the word 搞 gao3, mostly in Mainland China, is also used with the same meaning as 幹 in Taiwan and 肏 of which the meaning i probably don't have to explain.

Another word that has recently made an entrance is 劈腿族 pi1 tui3 zu2 "people who split legs" used for girls who are extremely easy going.

Well i think that's enough dirty chinese for now, hope i've been of some help

[skylee]

a lot of the times before 你娘 they will put the word 幹 gan4 which in Taiwan is commonly used for the most used English word and can also be used by itself (altough indeed really seldom used even the normal use of the word "to do" is now often avoided).

So do people still praise the others "能幹"?

[smithsgj]

I wonder if there'd be a market for T-shirts with 能幹? printed on them? And perhaps 不能 on the back?

[Guest Ratamahatta]

Skylee, nice reply, but even with the new meaning, 能幹 could still be taken as a compliment . Oh and i remembered something else today. if you see something so delicious that it makes you drool you can say 垂涎三尺 chui2 xian2 san3 chi3, which means as much as saliva is drooling 3 'feet'. This although is used for food. If in some case you want to refer to a girl it's 秀色可餐 xiu4 se4 ke3 can1, but to be honest i have never heard anybody use this.

I don't know about Mainland China, but here in Taiwan the word 炒飯 'fried rice' has also a second meaning.

[Joppatrain]

I think "ni hen ji che" which seems to be the source of confusion, may in fact be a heavily distorted form of "da cho ging sei"(cantonese) which roughly translates as, "beat the grass, see the snake".  I realize this is a stretch from the original phrase, but thats my guess