Curtains

How do you call curtains?

1.    a] têng1niam5 窗簾｜窗帘

2.    b] têng1liam5 窗簾｜窗帘

3.    c] têng1niang5 窗簾｜窗帘

4.    d] têng1liang5 窗簾｜窗帘

Please share in the comment section.

Do you remember the word bho5nai6ho5

Nowadays, one does not hear an old fashion Teochew expression said by people living in our homeland, which is bho5nai6ho5.

The Mandarin equivalent is still heard in Mandarin dramas.

bho5nai6ho5

無奈何｜无奈何

have no way out, have no alternative, without a choice, lack of a better option, helpless

Let us look at an example in which bho5nai6ho5 is used in a traditional Teochew saying.

deng6 ca5 bhi2 ， dang2 gho7 si2 ， bho5nai6ho5 ， bhoi7 gu1li7

斷柴米，等餓死，無奈何，賣咕哩｜ 断柴米，等饿死，无奈何，卖咕哩

Do not have firewood and rice, wait to starve to death, have no other alternative but to be a coolie.

Gu1li7 is a translation of the Mandarin ku'li 苦力 which means unskilled work a phrase used during the colonial period.

I thought of bho5nai6ho5 is because today was rather hot and I wanted to say:

Ruah8 gao3 bho5nai6ho5

熱到無奈何｜热到无奈何

Hot until cannot be held.

So what do modern Teochew people in homeland say instead of bho5nai6ho5?

They say du2m6duê3.

Ruah8 gao3 du2m6duê3.

熱到堵唔綴｜热到堵唔缀

Let us look at du2 first. One example of the use of du2 is in:

du2dioh4

堵著｜堵着

to come across by chance

When I was taught Teochew, I was told the difference between ngo6dioh4 and du2dioh4 – my teacher taught me:

Ngo6dioh4 gai5 nang5

遇著個人｜遇着个人

Meet a person

du2dioh4 gai5 se6

堵著個事｜堵着个事

Meet an event

However, the du2 here means to deal with and this is a specific Teochew meaning. M6 唔 has the same meaning as the Mandarin 不 meaning not or no. We know duê3 as to stick.

There is a Teochew nursery rhyme which has the expression bho5nai6ho5 and many of us would have learnt this when we were children.

The line dua7bêh4 siao2li2 bho5nai6ho5 siu1sib8 bao1go2 guê3 Siam5lo5 means the older brother was embarrassed, had no alternative, packed his bags and went to Thailand. 

tin1dêng2 zêg8 ziah4 gho5

天頂一隻鵝｜天顶一只鹅

A1di6 u6 bho2 a1hian1 bhou2

阿弟有𡚸阿兄無｜阿弟有𡚸阿兄无。

A1di6 sên1gian2 gio3 dua7bêh4

阿弟生仔叫大伯

dua7bêh4 siao2li2 bho5nai6ho5

大伯小理無奈何｜大伯小理无奈何

siu1sib8 bao1go2 guê3 Siam5lo5

收拾包裹過暹羅｜收拾包裹过暹罗

lai2ke3 Siam5lo5 kang1 de1go1

來去暹羅牽豬豭｜来去暹罗牵豬豭

tang3 u6 zin5ngeng5 gê1giam2 gia3

賺有錢銀加減寄｜赚有钱银加減寄

gia3 deng2 Deng5suan1 cua7 lao6pua5

寄轉唐山𡥘老婆｜寄转唐山𡥘老婆。

 

cooking bitter melon with Chinese bayberry part 2

In the last post, I have written down the Teochew common saying which Iab Hui has said and the last line is.

dua7nang5 li7 liah8 lai5 puê3 muê5

大人哩掠來配糜｜大人哩掠来配糜

We all know liah8 means to catch. Another meaning is to purchase. However, a third meaning is to take as in the Mandarin 拿。

Therefore, a translation of the above line is “adults take it and eat it with rice porridge”.

If you want to listen to Iab Hui saying the three lines again, then click on this link. 

cooking bitter melon with Chinese bayberry

Iab Hui has just uploaded a cooking video and at the beginning of the video, he said a Teochew common saying.

kou2guê1 ngao5 ion5bhuê5

苦瓜熬楊梅｜苦瓜熬杨梅

bitter melon stew with Chinese bayberry

nou5gian2 ziah8 liao2 bhoi6 sên1 tuê5

孥仔食了𠁞生㿗｜孥仔食了𠀾生𤻊

children after eating will not have ulcerated sores

dua7nang5 li7 liah8 lai5 puê3 muê5

大人哩掠來配糜｜大人哩掠来配糜

adults eat it with rice porridge

Do note that bhuê5 rhymes with tuê5 and muê5. The characters for bhoi6 and tuê5 are our Teochew characters and you will not find these in your Chinese dictionaries.

For more on tuê5 go to Zhang Xiao Shan second ed dictionary page 797.

Yin Yang

I have been thinking what I should write about today. 

I have decided to write about im1 from im1iang5 and words beginning with im1. 

It is not possible to speak bhung5ngia2 文雅 [refine and elegant] Teochew Uê without improving our command of the Chinese language.

A Singaporean Hokkien man was asked why Hokkien people in Singapore do not speak bhung5ngia2 Hokkien Uê and he said that the immigrants from China some two hundred years ago were not educated and thus they were not able to speak bhung5ngia2 Hokkien.

Nowadays, we Chinese have to learn Chinese and I learn Chinese via Teochew Uê. Mandarin is a foreign language for me. Therefore, for me to improve my Chinese, I can only improve my Teochew Uê. All the words listed in this post are Standard Chinese words, except for im1hung5 bhoi6 suaⁿ2.

im1iang5

陰陽∣阴阳

yin yang

 

im1am3	陰暗∣阴暗	gloomy, murky, dark
im1hiam2	陰險∣阴险	treacherous and sinister
im1hiam2dag8luah8	陰險毒辣∣阴险毒辣	treacherous and murderous
You can describe a person or a situation as im1hiam2 or im1hiam2dag8luah8 - hiam2 means dangerous, dag8 means poisonous or toxic and dag8luah8 as cruel, vicious.
im1hung5	陰魂∣阴魂	The spirit or soul of the dead.
im1hung5 bhoi6 suan2	陰魂𠁞散∣阴魂𠀾散	The spirit of a deceased does not disperse.
im1hung5 bhoi6 suan2 is said of a person whose influence still lingers on or the spirit of his doctrine still prevails amongst the living.
im1lêh8	陰曆｜阴历	traditional Chinese lunar calendar
im1gang1	陰間｜阴间	Hell, the underworld
im1mou5	陰謀｜阴谋	plot, conspiracy, scheme
im1mou5gui2gi3	陰謀詭計｜阴谋诡计	crafty plots and schemes
im1sêng6iang5suê1	陰盛陽衰｜阴盛阳衰	wife controlling husband
I learnt this last expression, im1sêng6iang5suê1, over 15 years ago from listening to a Teochew play in which the mother described her son as im1sêng6iang5suê1. A Teochew friend from Swatow said that the mother supposes not to be uneducated and how could she have known of this expression “im1sêng6iang5suê1”.

So we need to learn new Teochew / Standard Chinese words all the time to improve our command of our mother tongue.

Over to you: How do you say this “陰晴不定” in Teochew Uê? It can be used to describe somebody who is moody and emotionally unstable or to describe a changeable weather.

Do you want to laugh?

I find this video very funny and whenever I want to laugh, I watch it.  

fierce woman

This video shows a fierce woman and in Mandarin is called xiong1'e4 nü3ren2 兇惡女人｜凶恶女人 and in Teochew is called ag4 ze1nioⁿ5 惡姿娘｜恶姿娘 and a fierce cat is called ag4 ngiao1 惡貓｜恶猫。

I do not find videos about fierce Teochew men or women funny to watch. In fact, I am horrified that there such kind of people.

A fierce cat is normally caused by a human terrifying the poor animal.