| Order |
Pronunciation |
Expression |
Explanations |
When pronounced in Mandarin & Mandarin counterpart(s) |
| 1 |
ce85me3 ge2a4 do1dio6 tang3 |
瞎明 鷄子 啄到 蟲 |
Lucky. A blind chicken pecks upon a worm. Saying that someone is really lucky. |
[xia1ming2 ji1zi0 zhuo2dao4 chong2] “瞎貓 捉到 死 老鼠。” |
| 2 |
diam6diam5 jia6 sa85wa81gong5 bua86 |
沉沉 吃 三碗公 半 |
Still water runs deep. To have finished eating three and a half large bowls of rice quietly. In Taiwanese, a large bowl is called a "wa81 gong1 [碗公] (Grandpa bowl.)" |
[chen2chen2 chi1 san1wan3gong1 ban4] “看 不 出來。” |
| 3 |
bhai4 ge1 gao6shai4 |
壊 更 厚屎 |
Ugly and full of crap. |
[huai4 geng4 hou4shi3] “醜人 多 作怪” 或者 “醜 八怪。” |
| 4 |
he1jiu4 dim5 ong4de4 |
好酒 沉 甕底 |
Liquor of the best quality accumulates at the bottom of the urn. The best acts are reserved at the end of the show. |
[hao3jiu3 chen2 wong4di3] “好戲 在 後頭。” |
| 5 |
qi4 kua84mai2 ya4 |
試 看覓 子 |
Try and see what happens. Also: let us eat and see what happens. Let us put it on and see what happens. Etc. You can see how frequently expressions based on this pattern are being used. |
[shi4 kan4mi4zi0] “試試 看。” |
| 6 |
he1xim1 ho6 lui3 jim1 |
好心 與 雷 親 |
Good heart is kissed by the thunder. A good intention can be met with ugly reactions. When that happens, that is what they say. |
[hao6xin1 yu3 lei2 qin1] “好心 沒有 好報。” |
| 7 |
a1a4 tia85 lui3 |
鴨子 聼 雷 |
Duck listens to the thunder; it does not understand. Expressing not-understanding. |
[ya1zi6 ting1 lei2] 類似 “對 牛 彈琴。” |
| 8 |
o5 gan2a4 de1 dao6you3 |
黑 矸子 置 豆油 |
Black glass bottle is stored with soy sauce. You will never tell. |
[hei1 gan1zi0 di3 dou4you2.] “看 不 出來。” |
| 9 |
gu1 qio4 bi5 bhe5bhui4 |
龜 笑 鱉 無尾 |
Tapestry-shell turtle laughs at the smooth-shell turtle that it has no tail. When A laughs at B for the trait that A himself possesses, C as a witness will laugh at A to mean "half pound of one and eight ounces of the other." Or B can also fire back at A by using this expression. |
[gui1 xiao4 bie1 wu2wei3] “五十步 笑 百步。” |
| 10 |
go6 bu1 li6jiong1 |
故 不 離章 |
Let us get back to our subject (after beating around the bush all this time.) |
[gu4 bu4 li2zhang1] “言 歸 正傳。” |