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.
| Idioms, expressions | Hokkien pronunciation | Literal translation | Meaning |
| 腳忙手亂 | k’a bang tsiu luan | busy feet, disorder hands | so busy in a disarrayed situation |
| 雜雜滴滴 | tsap tsap ti ti | mixed and dripping | too many petty things to handle |
| 無影無一跡 | boo yna bo tsit tsia | no shadow and no traces at all | purely fictitious or made up |
| 有頭有尾 | uu t’ao uu beh | with head and tail | to start something and bring it to conclusion |
| 臭耳臭觸 | tsao hee tsao tak | stinky ear | a lazy person who pretends not to hear the instructions |
