"Kong" at the card tables in Macau

[abcdefg]

At the casino card tables in Macau, local and Hong Kong players call for "kong" when they want a ten-value card to come next. I have no familiarity with Cantonese tools and spent fifteen unsucessful minutes trying to Google it.

What I'd like to know is whether it means "ten" or "face card" or "picture" or something else similar down here in Canto land. I don't know what character is involved; I've only heard it, not seen it written.

In Baccarat it has a zero value, so it could conceivably be 空, but in Blackjack it counts as ten, so I kind of doubt that's the appropriate character. .

Thanks.

[skylee]

I don't go to casinos. But could it be 攻?

[abcdefg]

I don't go to casinos. But could it be 攻?

Don't think so. It has a sharp fourth tone and is usually said loud. It's an invocation (but is said like an order or a command) for a ten-value card to arrive in your hand.

[roddy]

I'll chuck in a wild guess for good measure - 面孔's 孔 for a 'face' card?

[abcdefg]

I'll chuck in a wild guess for good measure - 面孔's 孔 for a 'face' card?

I'll bet that's it. Fits because it is used both by the mainland boss pissing away the proceeds from that illegal coal mine in Shanxi as well as the Cantonese speaking white collar day-tripper from Hong Kong.

I've asked several bilingual Chinese players, but they usually give me a "what the concept means" answer instead of a literal answer as to what the word itself actually means.

[skylee]

I'll bet that's it.

In Cantonese, 孔 is something like "hong" in pinyin. And really if we want to say "face" we say 面.

PS - even in Mandarin I don't think people say 孔 to refer to "face". 孔 alone means "hole".

[abcdefg]

It may well be something entirely colloquial. In Las Vegas English it can be anything from "monkey" to "paint" with several other slang words possible as well.

[roddy]

Another wild guess bites the dust

I just asked my Cantonese language consultant - "it might be 'king'". So that helps.

[skylee]

How about the sharp fourth tone?

[abcdefg]

How about the sharp fourth tone?

I might be wrong on that, though I'm reasonably sure it isn't a first or second tone and it's generally said with a lot of force and conviction to make absolutely positive the Gods of Gambling get the message that this prophecy really needs to come true. The supplicant sometimes even slaps the table for added emphasis. And it applies to Queens and Jacks as well as Kings.

[skylee]

Serendipity during shower - I've concluded that it is 公.

We call a head shape/image 公. Head or tail is called 公 / 字, and 公 means the side of the coin with the head image. I think 公 probably comes from 公仔 meaning doll, or human image etc. So it could refer to JQK.

I have googled 澳門賭場 嗌公 （嗌 means yell / scream) and found this -> http://bbs.qoos.com/...php?tid=1795148

但係D 廳 畀我感覺實在不自然, 可能我唔中意 係咁聽到 D 客博命係到 嗌公,公公咁樣,