"Busybody" in Hokkien

[Tjandy]

BTW, Bang Kuang in English is called Jicama Root, not Turnip.

[Sim]

Thanks Tjandy,

It's always re-assuring to have one's perceptions confirmed by other people. Somewhere in one of my postings I "mapped" Penang Hokkien tones to what I thought were the Modern Mandarin equivalents. I'll try and find it one of these days.

When I say "mapped", I most definitely don't mean that the tones are the historical equivalents of the Mandarin ones, only that the "sound contour" seems roughly the same to me.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

Sim.

[Tjandy]

Correction, my mother in law told me that the "ji" in ke po ji does refer to the female genitalia.......Wow...James is right, we are quite down to earth, aren't we?

[Niuc]

Hi Tjandy

Glad to have you here. Yes, I am a Hokkien from Indonesia, Bagansiapiapi in Riau province.

Thanks for the info about the term Jicama Root. Btw, "luckily" we only use 'ke1-po5', never with ci/ji.

[Sim]

>> "ji" in ke po ji does refer to the female genitalia

Very amusing, Tjandy. If I remember correctly, we have a posting or thread somewhere about "ci bai" and "lan ciau"! There appears to be a slight difference between your "ji" and my "ci" (or it may be a different word for female genitalia).

[ No offense intended, I'm only speaking as a descriptive linguist ].

In Penang, I only remember us saying "ke3 po3 ci*1" (ci with nasalization).

I (personally, and without any foundation whatsoever) vaguely associated this "ci*" with another word "ci*" meaning "to force". As in: when you try to push junk into a drawer which is already too full, or paper into an envelope which is almost bursting, or clothes into a suitcase which is already too full, etc.

I suppose my association was with a busybody pushing their way into everybody else's business.

Does anyone else say it with a nasalized "i" instead of a plain "i"?

Sim.

[%sig%]

[Tjandy]

Sim,

I have always used "ci" (with nasalization) myself for ke po ci. My mother in law, however, reminded me that that has been altered by the young generation. During her days, it has always been ke po ji (without nazalization).

Trust me! There is no difference on how we say the vulgar terms in Penang Hokkien and Medan Hokkien.

Niuc,

In Bagansiapiapi, the Hokkien they use is very close to Taiwan, is it not? You would use kau3 for crying while we use hau4 in Medan or Penang Hokkien.

[Sim]

Tjandy,

Very interesting that both Medan and Penang Hokkien changed from "ji" to "ci*" together. Perhaps there _is_ an unconcious association with "to force" after all.

Sim.

[Andrew Yong]

Are we talking about ji in pinyin or ji in pehoeji? We should be clear, because not all the new members are up to speed with their romanisation.

I pronounce it as chi (=ci) without nasalisation.

AY

[Sim]

Andrew Yong wrote:

> Are we talking about ji in pinyin or ji in pehoeji?...
> ...
> AY

Good point Andrew.

[Tang Loon Kong]

Hi

"Kay Poh Chni" could easily mean a busy body who has elfish (like in elfs) characteristics. I think the word 'Chni' means elf or spirit or something like that.

Tang Loon Kong
Shanghai, China