Tai ji shuo

[Dru]

At work I overheard my manager tell his assistant, "Tai ji shuo" -- unfortunately my ear for Mandarin tones is still too weak to identify the tones here. He made a slicing motion at his neck directly after saying this.

 

What was he most likely saying? 

 

For more context, I think he said "No show.." in English right before.  However he may have been speaking mandarin here as well.

[Dru]

Before posting, I did search for possible meanings.

 

Might this mean, "Too much talking! [cut it out!]" ?

 

Or maybe this makes more sense if he said "Ta1 ji3 shuo1"?

 

 

He ... talks [much]?

 

Any ideas anyone?

[Demonic_Duck]

Is it possible he could have been saying “太棘手” tài jíshǒu?

 

“棘手”: intractable; difficult to solve or deal with.

 

“打太极拳” dǎ tàijí quán can figuratively mean to shirk responsibility or offer excuses not to do something, but I've never heard of “太极说” tàijí shuō being used as a phrase.

[semantic nuance]

Or could it be " 太機車 tai4 ji1 che1" meaning someone is really a pain in the neck / ass?

[Demonic_Duck]

Also a possibility, though AFAIK that's only really used by Taiwanese folks. Depends where the manager is from.

[Dru]

Thanks for the responses.

 

The speaker is in fact Taiwanese, so he may have been saying  " 太機車 tai4 ji1 che1". But it sounded more like,  “太棘手” tài jíshǒu, too intractable, or hard to deal with. 

 

I believe the mystery is solved. Time to tattoo this on my arm to impress the ladies.