Sunday, October 10, 2010
இ Baŋäŋaz இ
Here are some most popular idioms that we used to hear which involves 'threes' and 'sixes'. *WhyAskWhy* threes (3) & sixes (6)? For all you know accordingly some are just imaginary numbers and Bananaz picked on the three most frequently used sayings where they are often said in movies or in our everyday life.
[i]. 三口六面 sān kǒu liù miàn [lit. 3 mouths 6 faces]
In most cases to clear of some misunderstanding it is often to sit down among three parties where three (3) mouths and 'the left + right' = two faces to become six (6) faces. It is not necessarily be 3 person, the most sensible approach is for the parties involved to explain all about it 'face to face'.
Example: We have to '三口六面 3 mouths 6 faces' clear the misunderstanding with the Chong's tonight..
Example: We have to '三口六面 3 mouths 6 faces' clear the misunderstanding with the Chong's tonight..
[ii]. 三頭六臂 sān tóu liù bì [lit.3 heads 6 arms]
Normally refers to people to have 3 heads and 6 arms or superhuman who are good in multi-tasking and extremely talented.
Example: Bozz how to finish the workload by tonight? You think I've got '三頭六臂 3 heads 6 arms?'
Example: Bozz how to finish the workload by tonight? You think I've got '三頭六臂 3 heads 6 arms?'
[iii]. 三姑六婆 sān gū liù pó [lit.3 aunts 6 elderly women]
This one is a bit tricky and Bananaz would need 'professional' help as some sources refer sān gū to the 3 nuns where some refer to father's sisters associated with gossips and the Six (6) po's or elderly women : tQ [SK] who added this " 三姑sān gū actually means 姑婆gūpó, 姑媽gūmā and 姑姐gūjiě".
1.Teeth po 牙婆yápó ~ traffickers of women or concubines; 2.Matchmaker po 媒婆méipó ~ designed to introduce female human; 3.Master po 师婆shīpó ~ witch woman; 4.Qiánpó虔婆 ~ brothel madam or immodest woman; 5.Medicine po 药婆yàopó ~ to give medical treatment with drugs or harm others; 6.Stable po 稳婆wěn pó ~ Formerly known as the court or the official service of the midwives. Six women is the name of a variety of professional usually disreputable or illegal professions sometimes a person can wear many hats.
Example: I hate to go visiting during Chinese New Year lots of '三姑六婆 3 aunts 6 elderly women' giving me lots of pressure asking why I'm not married yet.
Example: I hate to go visiting during Chinese New Year lots of '三姑六婆 3 aunts 6 elderly women' giving me lots of pressure asking why I'm not married yet.
Today is the Double Ten Day ++ (traditional Chinese: 雙十節; pinyin: Shuāng Shí Jié) is the national day of the Republic of China and celebrates the start of the Wuchang Uprising of October 10, 1911, which led to the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in China and establishment of the Republic of China on January 1, 1912. Read more from wikipedia. Not only Double Ten but a perfect Triple Ten 10.10.10..
Posted in: Idioms,Threes Sixes,WhyAskWhy
46 Bunchesஇ:
Wow...3 mouths 6 faces is a little bit hard for me to comprehend... :/
yeah, happy triple ten to Bananazஇ!! so did you do something worth commemorate today??
hey, thanks for the explanation of 六婆, i really didn't know there's so many 婆s there, haha!! well, to be frank, i actually do not know the source of the phrase 三姑六婆, i just know how to use it.. hahaha!! so 三姑 actually means 姑婆, 姑媽 and 姑姐?? keke, just a guess~~ :p
by the way, in the ancient chinese literature, 三 does not necessarily mean exactly three, but it also gives the meaning of many.. that's what i remember my teacher told me.. :)
3 aunties 5 elderly women.. that was commonly used during my younger days.. there is one more.. 9 cannot answer 8...ever heard of it?
haha, cantonese very good at those phrases.
And why do people say - boh chit, boh pek...no seven, no eight? Why not other numbers?
hahaha! san gu liu po! remind me of my dad sayng my sister! hahaha! wow 10.10.10 is the national day of Republic of china?? @.@
also received smsn saying this month have 5 fri, sat and sun
LOL! To add on to Claire's, there's 3 who doesn't know 7, 7788, not 3 nor 4, and more..
A post on numbers would be an interesting one..
?? me langsong dunno what all this is about.. haha..
but now.. me understand a lil bit dy.. thankx to bananaz :D
That pic kinda freak me out..LOL...sam hau lok min = to have heart to heart talk??
Only used that 3 gu 6 po before. but never thought how this word came by. haha.....
Tekkaus இ huh 3 mouths 6 faces very common mostly spoken in Canto which is not popular in Melaka though. tQ
[SK] இ ++ just another day nothing special. tQ for the 姑婆, 姑媽 and 姑姐 think they quite close & have added in my post. Oh in the ancient chinese literature, 三 means 'many'! tQ.
reanaclaire இ howcome your 3 aunties short of 1 elderly woman? haha. Yeah heard 9 cannot answer 8 so *whyaskwhy* these numbers came about. Let me do the google-ing or baidu-ing to find out. tQ
wenn இ yo mostly Canto got all sorts of 'weird' sayings wanted to blog about the 'kwai' but too sensitive. Can find all the kwai's in people like kwai loh, keiling kwai, Jepun kwai etc but none Tongyan kwai haha.
suituapui இ guess its in Hokkien no 7 no 8 have not heard before leh. Got 7 early 8 early & no 3 no 4 haha *pengsan*
Caroline Ng இ Eh your dad said that to your sister haha..ROC birthday on 10.10 Double Ten or ++.
small kucing இ lots of numbers to play about..certain month of certain year will get the extras 5 days in a week. tQ
HappySurfer இ so your long wait is 7788 can go surfin' USA already? Wow 3 who doesn't know 7, 3 long 2 short haha..lots of combination surfacing and why & how? Will dig further. tQ
Merryn இ aduh our nonya penning kepala already..slowly you will learn more Chinese the hearsay way from a 'non-Chinese' educated bananaz hehe.
MRC இ Oops sorry you freaked out! Heart to Heart talk and not face to face..haha
mNhL இ me too can only know 3 gu 6 po and lucky to have the MDBG Chinese Dictionary & Google for assistance else still in the dark about the 6 po. tQ
oh yeah they said that it is a lucky day... 10 10 10 happens once in century... no wonder why most couple decided to get married on the said date.... they believe it will bring them a good luck..
blue இ ten ten ten...easy to remember the date haha..
Lol, its a dumb day XD
Aiya, alien from outer space.....ha ha ha!
Bananaz it is official: Our new Proton Waja 2 Lancer is called Proton Inspira (unless if the flyer is fake). :) http://www.tekkaus.com/2010/10/proton-inspira-new-proton-waja-lancer.html
this is too complicated for me to understand.
haha interesting! chinese is simply awesome...dont you think so?
You are hilarious blogger! I was teaching my honey some Thai words and they sound very vulgar in Cantonese!!
Royal Crown Prince - Chao Fah Chai (In Thai)
Kelvin இ dumb? 3 mouths to talk leh haha.
Pete இ another true blue Bananaz haha..
Tekkaus இ gotta get Inspira before that must make sure $$$ printed dry already haha. tQ
Life Ramblings இ too complicated haha perhaps more inclined towards Cantonese as they often say these quite often.
fufu இ yeah with just numbers the Chinese/Canto dialect can relate to so many things..
Twilight இ different dialects or languages can mean vulgar words to other languages. Oh Thai's 'Chao Fah Chai' is Royal Crown Prince..mai pian rai, kop khun krap..
Wow... I knew all these sayings, but never thought of their similarities...
Agree with Tekkaus that 3 mouths 6 faces is difficult to comprehend. By right 6 faces would have 6 mouths, LOL...
khengsiong இ let the numbers do the talking. one left one right of the face makes two haha..
Wow! This is a bit deep for me lah. But I kinda get what you mean. haha!!
Cool...thanks for the info.
foongpc இ huh deep? You must be in the company of English speaking too often think Canto used them the most. Well good chance to learn some hearsay Chinese haha.
willie a.k.a reptoz இ tQ for dropping by. cheers!
Err... dun understand. *blush*
LOL, you are right, if 6 person all together with 6 mouth will be annoying, 6 person taking turns discuss with 3 mouth is more than sufficent!:p
Hey... do you mean 10/10/2010 indicates bad omen?!=_=
Anyway, thanks for the fun facts and have a nice day!
How come no body mention the no 8 woman (8 po) or talk 3 talk 4. How about 5354? or when somebody is 'fifteen sixteen' when making decisions? Or somebody who 'talk 1 means 1 and talk 2 means 2?
Perhaps when we think in numbers, our Maths will be better, haha!
besides 三姑六婆 I have not heard of the rest :o). I hardly use a proper idiom like 三姑六婆, but I would just say 38 (san pak) - nosy.
I am not familiar with these idioms. First time learning about them.
i enjoyed this post too.. which is quite a surprise to me actually as a banana :)
but my conversational skills r quite std nowadays :) thank goodness although i still cannot write :)
cleffairy இ just like my first few posting on Rare/Medium/Well Done Bananaz guess you likely be under the 'Well Done' where 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation are all Bananaz where you hardly speak local dialects or watch Chinese movies..never too late to learn..haha
Alice Law இ no the date is just 'special' 10.10.10 no bad omen *hopefully* haha..tQ
Autumn Belle இ hahaha *part po* 8 woman! There are lot more like 7 success 8 failure..quite true on premature babies. Survival rate for babies to be born on 7th month or nineth month are very much higher.
Ai Shiang இ oh only heard of 三姑六婆?Would say I gathered the idioms from watching Chinese movies and also most of my circle of friends & family members who are Chinese educated.
Mei Teng இ never heard of any? Well not surprise you must be speaking English very often and seldom watch Chinese movies/TV series.
Bengbeng இ You are like me can speak Mandarin but not read or write. Got a banana Hokkien friend from Penang cannot hardly finish a sentence in Canto despite staying in KL for more than 20 years. At home/office speaks English, all friends are mostly Bananaz just like a 'yellow skin' kwailo.
Sorry I'm late ... Happy 10.10.10!
Wenny Yap இ never too late have a great weekend:)
love the quote.
it hits home right away.
http://jingleyanqiu.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/get-well-wishes-4-riika-and-leo/
please help pay a visit to riika and leo today to wish them well..
Thanks a ton.
u rock!
Happy Monday!
Jingle இ tQ will hop over to riika & leo.
thanks for the encouraging comments,
beautiful highlight of Chinese characters and culture.
keep up the excellence.
Cheers.
Post a Comment