skylee Posted January 14, 2004 at 02:28 PM Report Posted January 14, 2004 at 02:28 PM Here are two common examples. In Cantonese, the pronunciations of 空 and 凶 are the same. So in Hong Kong we don't sell/buy 空屋, we sell/buy 吉屋. And to handover a 吉屋 is called 交吉. This term is used in the property market. And sometimes we use "吉" in other similar situations, e.g. 吉位 (=空位). And when a gambler buys a book, he does not 買書(輸), he 買贏. Any more? Quote
Guest dodo Posted January 18, 2004 at 07:58 PM Report Posted January 18, 2004 at 07:58 PM one from top of my head is not to give "clock" as a gift tho i've received a few in the US 送钟 ~ 送终 giving clock as a gift sounds the same as attending a funeral. gotta love chinese Quote
pazu Posted January 18, 2004 at 08:41 PM Report Posted January 18, 2004 at 08:41 PM THere's only one I can think of right now. In Cantonese the most offensive foul language should be "diu nei lo mo" which means fxxk your mother. Somehow people found it to rude to f one's mother but still wanna f somebody. So they said, "diu nei LO MEI", just change the last word to LO MEI... It's still a bad word, but somehow softens the tone... and indeed I have no idea what it means at all. And speaking of the "DIU" (means Fxxk in Cantonese), there're some variations too. Some are even accepted in TV soap operas. YIU! DEE! SIU!! A very common one but a little bit outdated right now, is the replacement of DIU NA SING by SIU NA SING. Don't ask me about the meaning of those words, I don't know indeed. Anyway, have I sticked to the original post? Quote
Quest Posted January 19, 2004 at 03:48 AM Report Posted January 19, 2004 at 03:48 AM or hiu chiu Quote
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