Woo Hoo! somebody just bumped up an old thread and amongst the gems, I found a link to wikipedia for Cantonese profanities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantonese_profanityCantonese profanity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The five most common vulgar words in Cantonese profanity are diu (), gau (), lan (), tsat () and hai (閪), where the first literally means fuck, while the rest are sexual organs of either gender.[1] They are sometimes collectively known as the "outstanding five in Cantonese" (廣東話一門五傑).[2] These five words are generally offensive and give rise to a variety of euphemisms. Similar to the seven dirty words in the USA, these five words are forbidden and bleep-censored on Hong Kong broadcast television. Other curse phrases, such as puk gai (仆街) and ham gaa caan (咸家鏟), are also common.
Contents
[hide]
1 Vulgar words
1.1 Diu
1.2 Gau
1.3 Lan
1.4 Tsat
1.5 Hai
2 Other curse phrases
2.1 Puk gaai
2.2 Ham gaa caan
3 Legal issues
4 Notes
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
[edit] Vulgar words
[edit] Diu
Main article: Diu (Cantonese)
The written form of diu commonly seen in Hong Kong
Diu (traditional Chinese: or 屌; Jyutping: diu2), literally meaning fuck, is a common but grossly vulgar profanity in Cantonese. In a manner similar to the English word fuck, diu expresses dismay, disgrace, and disapproval. Examples of expressions include diu nei! (屌你！ or 你！, fuck you!), diu nei lou mou! (屌你老母 or 你老母, fuck your old mother). The latter one is particularly considered as grossly offensive and is one of the most serious offences one can make.
The word diu was originally a noun meaning the penis and evolved as a verb.[3] Regarded as a grossly vulgar word in Cantonese, the word has gained a new meaning in Taiwan to refer to "cool". In this context, the mandarin pronunciation may not be censored on TV broadcasts but the original Cantonese pronunciation is still a taboo.
Certain euphemisms exist, including siu (小) (small/little), tsiu (超), yiu (妖) and tiu (挑).[4]
[edit] Gau
Gau (Chinese: ; Jyutping: gau1), sometimes wrongly written as 尻(haau1) despite different pronunciations.[5], is a vulgar Cantonese word which literally means a cock or cocky.[1]
A common phrase ngong6 gau1 (戇) is an adjective that may be loosely translated as a "dumbass".[6] Cantonese phrase mo4 lei4 tau4 gau1 (無厘頭尻) that means "makes no sense" was cut to mou4 lei4 tau4 to avoid the sound gau1.[5] Similar to fucking in English, this word is usually used as an adverb. Compare this:
痴線 (crazy)
痴線 (fucking crazy)
Two common euphemisms gau, which only differ in the tone, include 九 gau2 (nine) and 狗 gau2 (dog, but it may change the original "dumbass" meaning into "cunning" instead).
[edit] Lan
In Cantonese lan (Chinese: ; Jyutping: lan2), sometimes idiomatically written as 撚 lun, is another vulgar word that means penis.[1]. Similar to gau, this word is also usually used as an adverb.
lan yeung (撚樣) can be loosely translated as "dickface".[7]
Euphemism includes 懶 laan (lazy) or 能 nang (able to).
[edit] Tsat
In Cantonese, Tsat (Chinese: ; Jyutping: cat6), sometimes idiomatically written as 柒, is a vulgar word for an erect penis. Its American English equivalent is "boner". Ban1 cat6 (笨柒) (stupid dick) is a more common phrase among others. However, it is usually used as a vulgar adjective especially among the youth. It means "ugly" or "shameful".
cat6 tau4 (柒頭) can be loosely translated as "dickhead".
A common euphemism is 七 cat1 (seven), which only differs in the tone. As a result, some people would try not to order seven dishes in a single meal to avoid the embarrassing meaning of "eating a dick". Other euphemisms include 刷 caat3 (to brush) and 賊 caak6 (thieves). As a result, thieves that are easily caught by the police are often intentionally describe as 笨賊 ban6 caak6 (stupid thieves) in the newspaper to achieve the humorous effects from the phrase ban6 cat6.
[edit] Hai
In Cantonese hai (traditional Chinese: 閪 or 屄; Jyutping: hai1) is a common vulgar word that literally means vulva or vagina. The English equivalent is "cunt". 屄 is more common on the mainland of China, with 閪 being used in Hong Kong and Macao. The Chinese character 屄 consists of two parts: the upper part is 尸 that means "body" while the bottom part 穴 means "a hole". The Chinese character thus literally means a "hole at the bottom of the body".[1] Two common phrases include 傻閪 so4 hai1 (silly cunt) and 臭閪 cau3 hai1 (stinking cunt).
A common euphemism is 西 sai1 (west). The phrase 西口西面 sai1 hau2 sai1 min6 (west mouths and west faces) is often used to describe women who have an impolite look. Some words that are associated with western culture such as 西人 sai1 yan4 (Westerners) may become Cantonese jokes that base on the ambiguity of these vocabularies. Other euphemisms haai4 include 鞋 (shoes) and 蟹 "haai5" (crabs). As a result, crabs are sometimes intentionally linked with other words such as stinking and water to achieve some vagina-related humorous effects.
The word hai can also mean total failure as in the phrase hai saai (閪曬). The Chinese character 曬 means "to expose to the sun", but in Cantonese it is also used as a verbal particle to stress the action.[8] To further stress the failure, sometimes the phrase hai gau saai is used (the word gau that means penis is put in between the original phrase). Since this phrase is highly offensive (it consists two of the five vulgar words), a euphemism or xiehouyu, a kind of Chinese "proverb", is sometimes used. As in a normal xiehouyu, it consists of two elements: the former segment presents a scenario while the latter provides the rationale thereof. One would often only state the first part, expecting the listener to know the second. The first part is "a man and a woman having a sunbath (naked)" (男女日光浴). Since the penis and vagina are both exposed to the sun, the second part is hai1 gau1 saai3 (閪曬) — a pun for total failure.[8] Therefore, if one wants to say that something is a total failure, she only has to say 男女日光浴, and the listener will understand the intended meaning.
Mnemonics for these five vulgar words are a five-word sentence 小狗懶擦鞋 siu2 gau1 laan5 caat3 haai4 (little dog (is) lazy (to) polish shoes).
[edit] Other curse phrases
[edit] Puk gaai
The written form of puk gai commonly seen in Hong Kong.
Puk gai (Chinese: 仆街; Cantonese Yale: puk1 gaai1) literally means "falling onto street", which is a common curse phrase in Cantonese that may be translated into English as "drop dead". Originally it meant that when you die, your body will rot on the street because all your family and friends have left you and no one cares for you. It is sometimes used as a noun to refer to an annoying person that roughly means a "prick". The phrase can also be used in daily life under a variety of situations to express annoyance, disgrace or other emotions.[9] Since the phrase does not involve any sexual organs or reference to sex, some argue that it should not be considered as profanity.[10] Nevertheless, "PK" is often used as a euphemism for the phrase.[11] The written form can be seen on graffiti in Hong Kong and other places in Guangdong, China.
In Southeast Asia, the meaning of the phrase has evolved and it is no longer a profanity, and is usually taken to mean "go bankrupt". The term is even used in a colloquial sense by Malaysian Malays, in which case it is usually rendered as "pokai".
[edit] Ham gaa caan
Ham6 gaa1 caan2 (Chinese: 咸家鏟; Jyutping: ham6 gaa1 caan2) is another common curse phrase in Cantonese that literally means "may your whole family be dead".[9] The first character is sometimes written as 冚, mainly because in speech 咸 is not said with its dictionary pronunciation haam4, but ham6. Interestingly, 鏟 caan2 means a shovel or to shovel, which possibly relates to a funeral and ultimately to the meaning of death. Like puk6 gaai1, the phrase can both be used to mean "prick" or to express annoyance, but be wary for many find "Haam gaa caan" much more offensive than "puk gai".[9]
冚家拎 Ham6 gaa1 ling1 is a common variant but 拎 ling (to take/carry something) has little logical relations with the original phrase. Adding the words ham gaa (whole family) in front of a bless can actually reverse the meaning. For example, common phrases like 冚家富貴 ham6 gaa1 fu3 gwai3 (may the whole family be rich) or 冚家祥 ham gaa cheung (may the whole family be fortunate) are often understood as "someone is suffering from big problems". As a result, the appropriate word for "the whole family" is 全家 chuen gaa to avoid any negative meanings. More recently, a variant of the phrase 冚尻鏟 ham6 gau2 caan2 has escalated the meaning from the family level to the globe level in order to describe the extent of global problems such as the recent financial crisis in the world.
Mnemonics for these two phrases are a four-word sentence 冚家仆街 ham6 gaa1 puk6 gaai1, which means 'whole family fall down on the street'.
[edit] Legal issues
In Hong Kong there are specific laws that forbid the usage of profanity in public. For instance, by Hong Kong law any person shall not "use obscene language... in Ocean Park", and "an offence is liable on conviction to a fine at level 1 and to imprisonment for 1 month."[12] In the MTR, it is prohibited to "use any threatening, abusive, obscene or offensive language...."[13] However, despite the explicit prohibition of various laws, the exact definition of "obscene language" is not given in the ordinance.[14]
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Last edited by SEAJ at 8-1-2012 01:44 ]
