"lan jiao" is a word of Min dialect, it means "dick" or "penis", which is refered to "屌(diao)", "鸡巴(ji ba)" or something like this in mandarin. In most time, it's a dirty word in Chinese. Min dialect is a kind of dialects of China. It appears in Fujian and Taiwan. Many people in southeasten asia country were immigrants of Fujian China. So, it's not surprising for a guy from Singapore or Malaysia saying this.
"lan jiao" is a word of Min dialect, it means "dick" or "penis", which is refered to "屌(diao)", "鸡巴(ji ba)" or something like this in mandarin. In most time, it's a dirty word in Chinese. Min dialect is a kind of dialects of China. It appears in Fujian and Taiwan. Many people in southeasten asia country were immigrants of Fujian China. So, it's not surprising for a guy from Singapore or Malaysia saying this.
Problems with some profanities.
屌 basically is the Chinese word for 'fuck'
鸡白 refers to 'pussy' (that was proven 'Ah Boys To Men 1' with that infamous leaf...)
Thankfully, there is one benign profanity that can be used: 妈的. (It’s OK because it only means damn it.)
Don't know where this came from. Are we talking about Chinese or oversea Chinese-influenced dialects?
In the first ‘Ah Boys To Men’ during the earlier National Service flashbacks, the drill instructor showed the recruits the infamous ‘CB Leaf’. It is known for having one part that looks somewhat like a girl’s pussy. (Only way to describe that.)
In the first ‘Ah Boys To Men’ during the earlier National Service flashbacks, the drill instructor showed the recruits the infamous ‘CB Leaf’. It is known for having one part that looks somewhat like a girl’s pussy. (Only way to describe that.)
I see. Oversea Chinese-influenced dialects it is then. Quite interesting.
I see. Oversea Chinese-influenced dialects it is then. Quite interesting.
鸡白 comes from Quanzhang Minnan (Fujianhua/Hokkien) 膣屄 (chi-bai, /t͡ɕi.baɪ/), "cunt". 鸡白 is used as a phonetic approximation in Mandarin Chinese (sort of like writing 酱 for Japanese '-chan'). This profanity is widely used in Taiwan, Singapore and the overseas Chinese community in Malaysia and Indonesia (probably among overseas Chinese in other South-East Asian countries too ,like in Indochina and the Philippines, because Hokkien was the lingua franca for Chinese immigrants back then). I believe Mainlanders in Minnan also use the word, but I'm not a Mainlander so I'm not entirely sure.
鸡白 also occurs as part of the most infamous Hokkien expletive, 姦恁老母臭膣屄 (literally, "fuck your mother's smelly cunt"), usually shortened to just 姦恁娘.
Lan jiao comes from 𡳞鳥 (lān-chiáu, /lan.t͡ɕiaʊ/), 'cock'. When written in Mandarin, the phonetically similar 懒觉 is sometimes used. 𡳞鳥/懒觉 is also from Minnan, and used in the same places that use 膣屄/鸡白. Less vulgar though.
鸡白 comes from Quanzhang Minnan (Fujianhua/Hokkien) 膣屄 (chi-bai, /t͡ɕi.baɪ/), "cunt". 鸡白 is used as a phonetic approximation in Mandarin Chinese (sort of like writing 酱 for Japanese '-chan'). This profanity is widely used in Taiwan, Singapore and the overseas Chinese community in Malaysia and Indonesia (probably among overseas Chinese in other South-East Asian countries too ,like in Indochina and the Philippines, because Hokkien was the lingua franca for Chinese immigrants back then). I believe Mainlanders in Minnan also use the word, but I'm not a Mainlander so I'm not entirely sure.
鸡白 also occurs as part of the most infamous Hokkien expletive, 姦恁老母臭膣屄 (literally, "fuck your mother's smelly cunt"), usually shortened to just 姦恁娘.
Lan jiao comes from 𡳞鳥 (lān-chiáu, /lan.t͡ɕiaʊ/), 'cock'. When written in Mandarin, the phonetically similar 懒觉 is sometimes used. 𡳞鳥/懒觉 is also from Minnan, and used in the same places that use 膣屄/鸡白. Less vulgar though.
Very informative. From a native Hokkien speaker's account, they use chi-mai instead of chi-bai, still means the same thing though, probably even writes the same. Funny thing is, when you take modern Mandarin into consideration, it could mean something completely different. Any Mandarin speaker (as in, knows little about local dialects) would've thought chi-bai means 'cock', since it looks and pronounces similar to ji ba, which means...well, lan jiao. In its original Hokkien meaning.
@OMGkillitwithfire What do you think? I'd assume these stuff are common in your local marketplace.
On a side note, a bunch of people discussing profanity in all seriousness...it's kind of surreal. Not that I have any problem with it though.
鸡白 comes from Quanzhang Minnan (Fujianhua/Hokkien) 膣屄 (chi-bai, /t͡ɕi.baɪ/), "cunt". 鸡白 is used as a phonetic approximation in Mandarin Chinese (sort of like writing 酱 for Japanese '-chan'). This profanity is widely used in Taiwan, Singapore and the overseas Chinese community in Malaysia and Indonesia (probably among overseas Chinese in other South-East Asian countries too ,like in Indochina and the Philippines, because Hokkien was the lingua franca for Chinese immigrants back then). I believe Mainlanders in Minnan also use the word, but I'm not a Mainlander so I'm not entirely sure.
鸡白 also occurs as part of the most infamous Hokkien expletive, 姦恁老母臭膣屄 (literally, "fuck your mother's smelly cunt"), usually shortened to just 姦恁娘.
Lan jiao comes from 𡳞鳥 (lān-chiáu, /lan.t͡ɕiaʊ/), 'cock'. When written in Mandarin, the phonetically similar 懒觉 is sometimes used. 𡳞鳥/懒觉 is also from Minnan, and used in the same places that use 膣屄/鸡白. Less vulgar though.
Never it be said that one can't gain new knowledge from image uploading sites. Most people afaik assume that 鸡白 is the actual word for this profanity, rather than a phonetic approximation.
It reminds me of this chap in our camp who apparently came from a well-mannered family. He would use "chicken-white" to substitute this favorite swear-word of everyone's =3
Very informative. From a native Hokkien speaker's account, they use chi-mai instead of chi-bai, still means the same thing though, probably even writes the same. Funny thing is, when you take modern Mandarin into consideration, it could mean something completely different. Any Mandarin speaker (as in, knows little about local dialects) would've thought chi-bai means 'cock', since it looks and pronounces similar to ji ba, which means...well, lan jiao. In its original Hokkien meaning.
@OMGkillitwithfire What do you think? I'd assume these stuff are common in your local marketplace.
On a side note, a bunch of people discussing profanity in all seriousness...it's kind of surreal. Not that I have any problem with it though.
You've got them both right. An additional one would be puki which literally means "fuck". Even the Malays use them to swear from where I come from.
You've got them both right. An additional one would be puki which literally means "fuck". Even the Malays use them to swear from where I come from.
That one is actually Malay. Natively Malay, even, which means it's one of those few words that Malay has inherited from its Austronesian roots and not a derived loanword from Sanskrit/Arabic/Chinese dialects/Portuguese/Dutch/English/Latin/etc.
It literally means, once again, well... "cunt". (gee, why do so many languages have a curse word referring to the female vulva?) Pronounced /puki/. Can be used as a generic (but very vulgar) swear word, in which case it could be translated as "fuck", I suppose. I believe the word and its derivatives (e.g. "pukimak") is more common in use in Sarawak compared to the rest of the country.
"Puki" is ultimately derived from Proto-Austronesian "*puki" (the asterisk means the sound is not attested to, i.e. the linguists who reconstructed the language weren't that sure because of lack of direct evidence). Several other Malayo-Polynesian langauages also retain the word. In Indonesian Malay it's also a swear word (very vulgar, like in Malaysian Malay), but less commonly used ("tempik" is preferred, I think. And they have a few other words). In Tagalog it's not strictly a swear word, but more of a vulgar one (like saying "vagina"). Related derivatives like "puking" and "puke" are swears in Tagalog though. And I think in the Cebuano dialect 'puki' is an euphemistic word (because it can also refer to other things like a cowry), maybe? Not too sure about the last one though.
There is a Cantonese swear word with similar-sounding pronunciation though — 仆街 (puk1 gaai1, /pʰʊk.kɑːi/). This one literally means "to fall flat on the street", as in "drop dead". It can be translated as "go to hell", or "bastard/bitch" (when used as a noun). You could sort of use it to mean "fuck", but not in the literal, sexual sense.
仆街 is very vulgar in Hong Kong proper, but is significantly less so among overseas Chinese (in Malaysia and Singapore, at least). It's sort of overused to the point that it can even mean just "fail" (or "phail" or "epic fail", to better convey the context).
The etymology of 仆街 is really murky (like a lot of Cantonese swear words, what's with Hong Kong being an international port and all). Some say it came from the literal meaning of the hanzi, others say it's derived from English "poor guy", and there's also a wild(er) theory going on that it's derived from the aforementioned "puki" itself.
That one is actually Malay. Natively Malay, even, which means it's one of those few words that Malay has inherited from its Austronesian roots and not a derived loanword from Sanskrit/Arabic/Chinese dialects/Portuguese/Dutch/English/Latin/etc.
It literally means, once again, well... "cunt". (gee, why do so many languages have a curse word referring to the female vulva?) Pronounced /puki/. Can be used as a generic (but very vulgar) swear word, in which case it could be translated as "fuck", I suppose. I believe the word and its derivatives (e.g. "pukimak") is more common in use in Sarawak compared to the rest of the country.
"Puki" is ultimately derived from Proto-Austronesian "*puki" (the asterisk means the sound is not attested to, i.e. the linguists who reconstructed the language weren't that sure because of lack of direct evidence). Several other Malayo-Polynesian langauages also retain the word. In Indonesian Malay it's also a swear word (very vulgar, like in Malaysian Malay), but less commonly used ("tempik" is preferred, I think. And they have a few other words). In Tagalog it's not strictly a swear word, but more of a vulgar one (like saying "vagina"). Related derivatives like "puking" and "puke" are swears in Tagalog though. And I think in the Cebuano dialect 'puki' is an euphemistic word (because it can also refer to other things like a cowry), maybe? Not too sure about the last one though.
There is a Cantonese swear word with similar-sounding pronunciation though — 仆街 (puk1 gaai1, /pʰʊk.kɑːi/). This one literally means "to fall flat on the street", as in "drop dead". It can be translated as "go to hell", or "bastard/bitch" (when used as a noun). You could sort of use it to mean "fuck", but not in the literal, sexual sense.
仆街 is very vulgar in Hong Kong proper, but is significantly less so among overseas Chinese (in Malaysia and Singapore, at least). It's sort of overused to the point that it can even mean just "fail" (or "phail" or "epic fail", to better convey the context).
The etymology of 仆街 is really murky (like a lot of Cantonese swear words, what's with Hong Kong being an international port and all). Some say it came from the literal meaning of the hanzi, others say it's derived from English "poor guy", and there's also a wild(er) theory going on that it's derived from the aforementioned "puki" itself.
I never thought I'd see the day that I take notes regarding profanity. You never cease to amaze, @NNescio .