"我不鸟你" from Shrek

[Zamenhof]

Yesterday I watched the movie Shrek in Chinese, and I encountered an expression that I haven't seen before.

Donkey doesn't want to leave Shrek's home and says:

"我不鸟你。你不鸟我。"

My 2300 page dictionary doesn't have [pop=bird/niǎo]鸟[/pop] as a verb, so what does it mean? Does it have anything to do with birds? Is it a new expression? Slang?

Kind regards,

Peter

[roddy]

The actual line is 'I don't know you, you don't know me' or something, so I'm going to guess that 鸟 is being used as an alternative for 'know' - note the similarity in pronuciation. I've never heard this used, but you do get stuff like this happening, so it's plausible.

[jukebox]

鸟 here is actually an alternative for 屌. It's regarded as a swear word.

"我不鸟你。你不鸟我。" may be, literally, "I don't touch you, so don't touch me" or "If I don't contact you, you won't contact me."

[roddy]

I considered that, but didn't think it would make it into the subtitles for a kids film - plus, the English version is 'know'. Either way, I don't like the translation:)

[in_lab]

I think 不鳥 means 不理, to ignore or disregard or not care about.

[sissi]

I think 不鳥 means 不理, to ignore or disregard or not care about.

I quite agree with：）

Disregarding the movie,I think it can be traslated into this:If you ignore me,I will ignore you.

ps:In the sentence above,I guess'鳥' maybe read in this way 'diǎo'.

[roddy]

Ok, my 'know' theory was a bit far-fetched. Ah well . . .

[tanya]

I think, it is a little disdain.

I also agree with in_lab.

不鳥 means 不理, to ignore or disregard or not care about.

"鳥",read in this way 'niǎo'.

[amego]

Hmmm I began to use 鸟 recently..its a new slang in Singapore, and here it means to criticise, nag, scold, just about anything, as long as its verbal and negative, haha.

[rose~]

diǎo...isn't that that character...? Are you saying 鳥 is a euphemism for that?

[Zamenhof]

First of all, thank you for your replies.

I find it interesting that 鸟 is an alternative to 屌. My 2300 page dictionary that I mentioned above, actually says the very same thing. So I guess my dictionary is okay after all. I just didn't know that I had to look under "diǎo".

Whatever the meaning is in "Shrek", I share Roddy's surprise that such a word would be used in the translation.

[anonymoose]

"鳥",read in this way 'niǎo'.

ps:In the sentence above,I guess'鳥' maybe read in this way 'diǎo'.

到底该读成niǎo还是diǎo?

[chenpv]

到底该读成niǎo还是diǎo?

I second the latter. But in TV series, that character is always pronounced as 'niǎo' to avoid 'vulgarity'.

[Lugubert]

According to my dictionary,

鸟(鳥) diăo same as 屌, used in old novels as a term of abuse -- see also niăo

屌 diăo inf. penis

[Sophia_Shang]

"Niao" has been used as a informal (and impolite) way between males as a slang more than 1,000 years ago. Li Kui, one of the main characters in the novel Shui Hu Zhuan, has used the word thousands times. The slang is becoming popular among male college students in recent years. It can use as an adjective (roughly equals to "damn") or a verb. One should be very careful using it, especially when ladies are present.

[semantic nuance]

鳥 in its slangy usage refers to 'penis' as well as '小弟弟' (literally little brother). Sometimes we'll use 小鳥 to mean 'penis'. I guess that's why 鳥 and 屌 are related.

Ex: 我才不鳥你呢 ! (I don't give a shit ).

鳥事 shitty thing

Hope it helps!

[zxy31412]

I'm a Chinese, and I'm quite sure that "不鸟" pronounces "bu4diao3" and means "不理,不屑". It is likely that the word is too rude so that most dictionaries have no such explanation.

[weiming]

A couple of searches on baidu seem to reveal the word does indeed have origins in copulation, but the slang has taken on another meaning as well, probably used by those unaware of its 'dirtier' connotations.

It seems that it can be used both as 不烦 and 不理. In your movie of course, it is going to have elements of both of these meanings.

[jackie tang]

you are all wrong.你不鸟我，我也不鸟你，the 鸟 is wrong,should be 了,is short name for the word:了解,means understand,so the sentence means:you don't understand me,and i don't understand you too.this 了 is pouplar in taiwan some places.

i love this movie,we can disscuss if you guys still have problems

[zhwj]

I was reminded of this old thread when I visited The Journalist magazine (新新闻) today. The title graphic and slogan look like this:

Also, two years later, it looks like 不鸟 might be a variant of 不尿; 尿 in some dictionaries at least is defined as a dialectical word for 在乎 or 理会. Where that comes from I haven't been able to find out.