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 |
| 吹風球 | tsui huang kiu | blow a ball | blabber |
| 厚面皮 | kao ben p’e | thick face | not ashamed of doing wrong things |
| 暗公鳥 | am kong tsiao | night bird | someone who sleeps late at night |
| 緊足接手 | kin k’a tsiap tsiu | quick foot and hand | quick in doing things |
| 鈴鈴隆隆 | ling ling long long | making too much sound | making too much noise |
First published in Tulay Fortnightly, Chinese-Filipino Digest 29, no. 4 (July 19-August 8, 2016): 13.
