Hokkien, on the tongues of Tsinoys, has grown and evolved, taking on a life of its own. Sometimes words simply fail us. With some creativity, Tsinoys have strung together words to form colorful phrases that simply hit the bull’s eye. Here are some expressions unique to Hokkien as favored by Tsinoys.
| 死坐活吃 |
si tse wâ tsia |
sitting death and living to eat |
too lazy and not bothering to work at all |
| 別人囝，
死毋了 |
pat lang kna, si bue liao |
it’s okay if other people’s children die |
selfishness not caring about the welfare of others |
| 死一百個， 才五十雙 |
si tsi pâ eh, tsia go tsap sang |
one hundred deaths is just fifty pairs |
other people’s lives are so dispensable |
| 吃緊弄破碗 |
tsia kin long pwna wna |
eating so fast resulting in breaking the bowl |
doing a task so fast but end up with disastrous results |
| 開嘴管頂， 合嘴管下 |
k’ui tsui kuan ting, hap tsui kuan eh |
opening mouth to manage upper part, closing mouth to manage lower part |
someone who likes to meddle in other people’s business |