not listening . . .

Let us listen to the mother saying to the son using one of our Teochew common saying:

san1 dao2 iu5muan5 do2 bho5 liab8 loh8 hin6

三斗油麻倒無粒落耳｜ 三斗油麻倒无粒落耳

dao2 斗 is a dry measure in volume and 1 dan3 石 = 10 dao2 斗 = 100 litres

Therefore 1 dao2 斗 = 10 litres and 3 dao2 = 30 litres i.e. quite a lot

iu5muan5 are sesame seeds

do2 means to pour

bho5 liab8 is short for bho5 zêg8 liab8 and we drop the zêg8 because we Teochew do not like saying zêg8 as in “one (1)”

loh8 hin6 means to enter one’s ear

The direct translation of the common saying is: “30 litres of sesame seeds pour into one’s ear and not a single sesame seed enters the ear”

The actual meaning of the saying is: “not being able to listen to what other people are saying”

Do note: the full traditional character of dao2 斗 is NOT 鬥 or 閗 which means to struggle or fight and said as dao3 – tone 3 and not tone 2 as per above.