"hammer" - 锤子 and 榔头

[tooironic]

I've seen "hammer" expressed as both 锤子 and 榔头. Is there any difference between the two? My original conception was that northerners say 榔头 more often, whilst southerners say 锤子 more often, but it seems to be more complicated than that. I've asked a few different people and received the following mixed bag of responses:

• "锤子是民间喊法, 榔头是官方叫法."
  
• "锤子一般用于将钉子敲入木头或者什么之类的，榔头是锄地的."
  
• "我们一般说 锤子。。我妈妈知道 榔头 我都不知道榔头是什么 嘻嘻~^ 都是锤子~"
  
• " 一樣...我是覺得錘子生活上口語比較常用."
  
• "你問我的我我會說 榔頭是槌子的一種."
  

But is there any definite consensus regarding their etymologies and modern usage?

[imron]

I've only ever heard 锤子 used. This was in Beijing and Hebei.

[gato]

榔头 is Shanghainese for hammer. There is no 锤子 in Shanghainese.

It's like 调羹 is spoon in Shanghainese, whereas 勺子 is spoon in Mandarin.

[xiaocai]

I think it is more of a regional preference. But if you ask me I'd say that these look more like 榔头 to me and this would be a 锤子. But maybe it is just me. And as far as I know, 锤子 is not a good word in some dialects so people who speak these dialect may tend to use 榔头 instead.

[tooironic]

And as far as I know, 锤子 is not a good word in some dialects so people who speak these dialect may tend to use 榔头 instead.

Yes, for 锤子, Wenlin gives another meaning as "〈vulg.〉 penis; prick". Is that correct?

[imron]

Yep. It also has this slang meaning in dialects that do use it to mean hammer.

[analgesia]

In some provinces ,says in Sichuan,chui-zi is putactive and wildly used among local people.

And just as you said,it has unsightly meaning but not that kind of vicious dirty words . Instead it's a interjection at the end of negative sentence only to express disagreement or censure，

here goes a example

e.g A: He said he didn't notice your scar.

B: chui-zi ,he liar

And ,generally ,chui-zi is verbally used in oral chinese and may has multiple meaning while langtou is what it literally is.

Hope this could be helpful:)

[skylee]

It's like 调羹 is spoon in Shanghainese, whereas 勺子 is spoon in Mandarin.

Thank you for mentioning this. I didn't realise it. Indeed they use 調羹 in Shanghai.

[tooironic]

And ,generally ,chui-zi is verbally used in oral chinese and may has multiple meaning

What multiple meanings does chuizi have?