无厘头

[Ian_Lee]

Just curious, do all Mandarin speakers (Mainland & Taiwan) understand what 无厘头 means? And is there any equivalent term in Mandarin vocabulary?

How to translate this term properly into English?

[skylee]

nonsense/nonsensical, perhaps ...

[Quest]

pointless?

[Ian_Lee]

Clueless?

[nnt]

I think it's nonsense humour.

Test your WQ (WLT Quotient) here for example :

http://campus.sohu.com/20041127/n223210042.shtml

[pazu]

It's nonsense humour with some wisdom, or subtle implication, yeah many (not most though) Mandarin speakers understand this term.

[Quest]

无厘头 existed before 周星驰, I don't think it necessarily means humour, just pointless.

You can also add a swear word after 头， eg. 你无厘头seven去嗰度仲乜脊。

(btw, how do you write "zjek")

[skylee]

"zjek" -> 啫

[Quest]

啫唔係啫喱个啫咩？

好似唔係k ending喎。

[Claw]

香港人好似會講個ｋ－ｅｎｄｉｎｇ喎。

[Quest]

香港人好似會講個ｋ－ｅｎｄｉｎｇ喎。

You misunderstood me.

I was asking for "只“ (with k), but skylee gave me 啫喱个"啫" (withou k).

[Claw]

哦，對唔住……

有ｋ－ｅｎｄｉｎｇ嘅都可以用個「啫」字。

冇ｋ－ｅｎｄｉｎｇ嘅就用個「嗻」字（但係用「啫」都可以嘅）。

有啲人或者會寫個「呮」字……粵語冇乜規範，所以好難講嘅。

[Claw]

To answer the original poster... would 沒有理由 be a good equivalent in Mandarin?

[skylee]

but skylee gave me 啫喱个"啫" (withou k)

hmm ... 啫k then

[Ian_Lee]

The Cantonese term 无厘头 existed long before Stephen Chow. But with Chow's input, the term has gained new meanings. I can think of:

(1) pointless;

(2) nonsensical humor;

(3) clueless;

(4) very unexpected surprise;

(5) Black humor (a lot of Chow's 无厘头 movies are actually tragic stories interpersed with jokes).

[foxlady]

我还以为无厘头就是特指周星驰演的风格呢

[Ian_Lee]

So far this is the best translation I can find for 無厘頭:

Nonsense's Sense

Read:

http://www.yzzk.com/ (click on Vol. 44)

Some excerpts:

台灣看周星馳﹕無厘頭的有厘頭　．王杏慶

台灣即將出版一本探討周星馳現象的書籍，文化界一般將無厘頭現象視為現代人追尋心靈小革命，探討人生根本價值的體現。在古希臘，帝王重悲劇、輕喜劇，其實是在維護利益和意識形態。

台北的「城邦出版公司」最近邀集了許多藝文界喜歡周星馳的人，編了一本書。由於我對他評價很高，甚至曾在「台北藝術大學」講過一次周星馳的《威龍闖天關》（港稱《審死官》），因而也邀我共襄盛舉。

我對周星馳一向有特殊的偏好，因為他創造了一種特殊形態的「喜鬧劇」(Farce)，集誇張、笑鬧、東拉西扯、荒誕、插科打諢、故意諧仿，以及卡通化於一體。即是一種獨特的「無厘頭」，但在其中，卻是「有厘頭」。這是一種「無意義的意義」(Nonsense's sense)。

我喜歡他在《威龍闖天關》和《九品芝麻官》裡那種卡通化的嘲謔，喜歡他在《凌凌漆大戰金鎗客》（港稱《國產凌凌漆》）裡那種故做姿態的諧仿，還有《唐伯虎點秋香》裡獨特的拼湊，《少林足球》裡那種夾纏的誇張，當然還有《鹿鼎記》裡的詼諧胡鬧……他懂得把各種大眾文化裡的元素、古代傳奇，做出不可思議的鑲嵌拼貼，套句時髦術語，那可真是非常的「後現代式的荒唐離譜」啊﹗但就在這諸般重重的「無厘頭」裡，那種小市民式的顛覆式快樂卻能得到抒發......................

[Quest]

I remember HK had a 无厘头热线 173 something in the early 90s.

[skylee]

小市民式的顛覆式快樂

Indeed. I still remember the excitement of seeing 逃學威龍's first midnight show ... years ago.

Am going to see 功夫 tonight. This film opened last night and all shows were full. 賣了個滿堂紅.