Posts tagged ‘Taishanese’


鍙板北闃夸集杩旈剦涓嬭瑳鑻辨枃

12.10.2021

This is one of those things I have to note down otherwise it鈥檒l get lost to time. And you won’t see this mentioned during ‘Chinese Language Week’ here.
   In the old country (鍙板北, or Taishan, China), when my father was a boy in the 1930s and 1940s, there were some wh膩nau in the village who had been to the United States, where his paternal grandfather had settled. When conversing with them about their experiences in foreign lands (specifically, 閲戝北), they said a few things that confused him then, but as an adult it all clicked.
   One was when they spoke of their travels to 閲戝北. They claimed, 鈥樿埞闋墦閼艰埞灏捐伣鍞斿害.鈥 As a child, Dad would think, 鈥榃ow, that ship must have been massive.鈥 He knew that if someone had 鎵撻懠 in one village, the next village could hear it. Conclusion: the length of the ship between the bow and stern must be greater than the distance between two villages.
   As an adult, 鈥楾he buggers tricked me. No wonder they couldn鈥檛 hear 閼 at the bow of the ship. They would have travelled in the hold!鈥
   The second one was in response to, 鈥榃hat are movies like?鈥 I imagine cinemas were thin on the ground during wartime, so he could only ask those who had been to the US. Their response, 鈥樻墦鐓欏〉.鈥 Hitting smoke and dust? (Note that these have to be pronounced in Taishanese, not Cantonese, and definitely not Mandarin, for this story to make any sense.)
   Again, as an adult, who wound up grasping English better than many Anglophones, he realized the old 鍙板北闃夸集 had seen westerns, where they fought Indians, or more specifically, Injuns.
   The third one was, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 it like speaking English?鈥 The reply: 鈥樺﹢绫績.鈥 He never figured that out as a child鈥攊t sounded like gibberish. Again, when older, having learned English, he realized what they meant: all the same.
   Bear in mind those early travellers, or immigrants who were returning to visit the old country, wouldn鈥檛 have had great jobs and learned little English. It isn鈥檛 surprising in this context that they had pidgin phrases, ones they could fool a boy with.

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