Uniqueness of Hokkien Dialect and Mandarin

This morning, eldest brother Kee Yong and I chatted and we reminisced about our childhood days in Penang. I hardly speak Hokkien in Singapore, but with brother, I chatted with him in our native tongue. I have always thought that Hokkien and Mandarin are so unique because some of the phrases used can never be adequately translated into English. If we were to translate them directly into English, it would sound very funny, and almost meaningless. We cannot use a word for word translation; we have to use the closest equivalent to bring out the meaning in English. Let us now explore some of these sentences or phrases.

1) Bu san, bu si (Mandarin)
Mu sa, mu si (Hokkien) meaning not three, not four.
It essentially means neither here nor there.

2) Bo hu, hae ah hoh (Hokkien) meaning if no fish, prawns are also good.
It means that if one cannot get one's choice, another alternative is also good even if the alternative is of a lesser quality.

3) Bo ho yi si (Hokkien) Bu hao yi si (Mandarin) direct translation ....no good meaning!
It means it is not nice to put someone in a spot or in a difficult position, or it is embarrassing to trouble someone.

4) Keng tioh chau geng geng (Hokkien) (Choose a rotten longan)
It means being so choosy of a life partner, and the more one chooses, the more likely one is bound to end up with someone who is not the best choice.

5) Kiang lang chiak gong lang. Gong lang chiak ti gong (Hokkien) Direct translation means the clever people eat up stupid people, and the stupid people eat up God.

It means a person who is not very clever and who often gets bullied by the clever ones, but it is always the stupid people who get all the blessings from God.

6) Kek ki chiak ka ki. (Hokkien) Direct translation means to be ceremonious, but ends up eating oneself.
It means that if one stands on ceremony, one will be disadvantaged at the end by losing out to others.

7) Chee Koh Pek (Hokkien) A colour wolf

8) Goh Beh Xi. (Hokkien) The numbers 584.
This is only peculiar to the Penangnites. It means someone who is amorous, a colour wolf. Can any one enlighten me as to why the numbers of five, eight and four are chosen, and not any other number?

9) Ying siong nan guo mei ren guan. In Mandarin, meaning it is difficult for a hero to resist a beautiful lady.


10) Goh Gee Chew (Hokkien) 5 whiskers
It also means someone who is amorous, a colour wolf. It means the man with 5 whiskers is often in the habit of twirling the long hairs on his lower chin, while he looks at a woman with lust.

11) Chi xi ren ( Mandarin. Angry until it makes a person die)
It is interesting to note that while the Chinese are superstitious and find death morbid and hence it is bad luck to refer to things pertaining to death, yet there are so many phrases ending with the word "death". eg. Chi xi wo. I am so angry that I can die. Erh xi wo. I am starving, almost dying! Kuah hee xi. Happy until death. There are many more examples that you can add on.

12) Chi bu xia. Mandarin meaning eat but food cannot go down.
Chiak beh loh. Hokkien equivalent of the above. In English,it means not having appetite.

13) Bo tuah, bo suay. Hokkien meaning not big, not small.
Mei ta, mei xiao. Mandarin meaning the same thing. In English it means one is not being respectful to one's elders.