Insult?

[daofeishi]

Hi everybody, I've been hanging around these forums for a while, but haven't had the courage to register before now. I'm currently working in 宁夏，银川，and have been learning the language for about 3 months.

A friend of mine with whom I often exchange text messages,sent me an SMS containing the following line:

打断你的狗腿子

We have as a running joke always to start our text messages with an insult - the line before that one ran: "how do you dare insult my grandmother?" I have problems deciphering this one though. Can anyone help me here?

[Rhubarb]

A dog's leg?

那些狗腿子

把你当狗腿子

你这狗腿子

[Lu]

I'm gonna break your stupid legs, or something along that line.

[Rhubarb]

I'm gonna beat you properly you filthy dog leg!

[xiaocai]

Should it be "打断你的狗腿"?

I think 狗腿子 usually means "accomplice" or something like that rather than "dog leg".

[Bibiy]

I think "打断你的狗腿子" is kind of like warning,in china,when a kid was naughty and did something wrong,his parents maybe warn that"if you do it again,当心我打断你的狗腿子"

[ABCinChina]

I learned from the Mandarin Slang Wikipedia page that 狗腿 means an unprincipled person. But how it is used here beats me. I think he was just talking gibberish as many people do when messing around with friends.

[jade-]

Daofeishi, 狗腿子itself indeed is an insult word. It is a slang that means the accomplice hired by the rich. In old China, the local wealthy people were afraid of bandits or robbers to rob or loot their homes, so they hired someone to guard their houses, in Chinese, those people were called 护院. Those 护院 also helped to chase away the poor who begged the food from the rich. So the poor started to call those护院 as狗腿子, equalizing them as the guard dogs.

However, in your case, 打断你的狗腿子 is a harmless little joke between the friends. In Chinese, when we use 狗 to describe something, it generally means joking, jesting, or a bit insulting without malice. 打断你的狗腿子 only means to break your leg here.

[Rhubarb]

originally posted by "jade-":

In Chinese, when we use 狗 to describe something, it generally means joking, jesting, or a bit insulting without malice.

really? so I can say 你的狗脑 to mean your little dog brain without malice

[jade-]

In any language, there are always certain ways to speak certain word - how you say it, to whom you say it and when you say it.

If you use 你的狗脑 to talk with your friends, I believe it is understood that you speak it without malice.

If you are malicious to attack people, tell you the truth, the word 狗脑 is actually not strong enough. If you repeatedly use 狗脑 to attack, people will laugh at you as a 拙嘴笨腮的人。

If you use 你的狗脑 to a stranger like me, I don’t think you are malicious, I think you are just simply trying to insult me in order to provoke a fight.

So, always observe how a native speaker talks, joking or not joking, it will save you from trouble.

[Rhubarb]

In any language, there are always certain ways to speak certain word - how you say it, to whom you say it and when you say it.

If you use 你的狗脑 to talk with your friends, I believe it is understood that you speak it without malice.

If you are malicious to attack people, tell you the truth, the word 狗脑 is actually not strong enough. If you repeatedly use 狗脑 to attack, people will laugh at you as a 拙嘴笨腮的人。

If you use 你的狗脑 to a stranger like me, I don’t think you are malicious, I think you are just simply trying to insult me in order to provoke a fight.

So, always observe how a native speaker talks, joking or not joking, it will save you from trouble.

well, to tell you the truth, I haven't learned anything except that you completely misunderstood my intention there Ms "Jade"

[xiaocai]

I feel she might not be the only one who misunderstood you. And maybe you also misunderstood her as well. There are better ways to give examples and to ask questions, if you don't want to be misunderstood, then you have to understand other people's feelings.

己所不欲，勿施于人。

[Rhubarb]

I feel she might not be the only one who misunderstood you. And maybe you also misunderstood her as well. There are better ways to give examples and to ask questions, if you don't want to be misunderstood, then you have to understand other people's feelings.

己所不欲，勿施于人。

At least have the courtesy to translate your awesome phrase then

and I believe my way of giving examples and asking questions is the best I can possibly ask for

[xiaocai]

[text deleted]

It's kind of becoming pointless, I'll stop.

[Rhubarb]

[text deleted]

It's kind of becoming pointless, I'll stop.

谢谢你的礼貌。

[Li Yuzuo]

I will break your legs.

我要打断你的狗腿子。

我要打断你的狗腿。

我要打断你的腿。

here 狗腿子=狗腿=腿， but how could "my leg" be a "dog's leg",

yes, that's what he means, you = dog,

if you are friends, it was just kidding.

[neverain]

In my opinion,Chinese insults is quite difficult to understand.

you don't need to make every character clear.....even chinese don't

in fact they work like phrase.

I hope you can understand what I'm talking about