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Culture Idioms...Hokkien style

When words fail, use idioms… Hokkien style (15)

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, expressionsHokkien pronunciationLiteral translationMeaning
臨時抱佛腳lim si po put kaembracing the Buddha’s feet in an emergencysomeone not preparing and cramming at the last minute
雙腳踏雙船sang ka ta sang tsuntwo feet on two boatsplaying both sides just to be sure
脫褲放屁teng ko pang puiremoving one’s trousers to fartusing a useless action to prove something
盤屎過甕puan sai ke angto transfer a bowl of feces to anotherdoing things without a proper mind set, making endless changes
Source: Tulay Fortnightly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 28, no. 18 (February 16-29, 2016): 15.