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 |
| 半路出家 | pnua lo tsut ke | half way became a monk | sudden shift of career path or line of work |
| 和錢無過瞑 | kiao tsni bo ke bin | cannot keep money overnight | to describe a person who cannot save for the future |
| 去楚賣茶壼 | k’i tso bue te ko | everything ruined, end up selling kettle | everything went wrong ends up a total defeat |
| 五腳出現 | go k’a tsut hian | revealing five legs | everything is out in the open |
| 赤馬婆 | ts’iâ beh po | woman acting like an untamed horse | crash/crude lady |