meaning of "ngok sai"?
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steve
meaning of "ngok sai"?
Hi, anyone know the meaning of "ngok sai"? If anyone does it would be great. Thanks! Cheers, Steve.
Re: meaning of "ngok sai"?
Well,I am sorry to say that I have never heard this saying,though having lived in Canton all my life!
Do you think you have jotted down the wrong one?
Do you think you have jotted down the wrong one?
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Dylan Sung
Re: meaning of "ngok sai"?
It could be that due to sound changes that ok sai has become ngok sai.
ok means to be fierce
sai means all, everything
Therefore, it refers to someone's fierce demeanour and this person is trying to use ferocity to win an argument.
Basically it is rhetorical, "nei ok sai ya?" basically, means "do you think that by your ferocity that you win?" or something to that effect.
Dyl.
ok means to be fierce
sai means all, everything
Therefore, it refers to someone's fierce demeanour and this person is trying to use ferocity to win an argument.
Basically it is rhetorical, "nei ok sai ya?" basically, means "do you think that by your ferocity that you win?" or something to that effect.
Dyl.
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Lisa c
Re: meaning of "ngok sai"?
Hi Dylan!
How're the newlyweds? Any little Sungs coming along?
I think actually the "proper" pronounciation would be "ngok" and that due to changes it's become "ok" sort of like "ngow" (cow or beef) became "ow". Very Hong Kong. I don't notice it in other Cantonese speakers.
Lisa
How're the newlyweds? Any little Sungs coming along?
I think actually the "proper" pronounciation would be "ngok" and that due to changes it's become "ok" sort of like "ngow" (cow or beef) became "ow". Very Hong Kong. I don't notice it in other Cantonese speakers.
Lisa
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Radagasty
Re: meaning of "ngok sai"?
> I think actually the "proper" pronounciation would be "ngok" and that
> due to changes it's become "ok" sort of like "ngow" (cow or beef)
> became "ow". Very Hong Kong. I don't notice it in other Cantonese
> speakers.
I suspect it is the other way around. In Malaysian Cantonese, words like 牛 and 噩 keep their /ng-/ initial, but 惡 is one of the few words that are pronounced /ok/ without /ng-/.
Sebastian.
> due to changes it's become "ok" sort of like "ngow" (cow or beef)
> became "ow". Very Hong Kong. I don't notice it in other Cantonese
> speakers.
I suspect it is the other way around. In Malaysian Cantonese, words like 牛 and 噩 keep their /ng-/ initial, but 惡 is one of the few words that are pronounced /ok/ without /ng-/.
Sebastian.
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Dylan Sung
Re: meaning of "ngok sai"?
Hi Lisa,
The wife and I are fine, but we're still trying.
With regard to the ng- initial, it seems to be a modern innovation. One needs to back to see the old dictionaries of Cantonese first, and we find that many modern ng- words were not once ng- initialed words, and that certain modern syllables beginning with a vowel in fact began with ng. This mixup may be driven by Hong Kong speech of late. To lend support to this, you need only need view old films from the 50's and 60's and you will see that Cantonese of that era and perhaps people who can remember those eras speak differently to younger folk.
For instance the following
English Modern 1950's
outside oi ngoi
love ngoi oi
house nguk uk
Dyl.
The wife and I are fine, but we're still trying.
With regard to the ng- initial, it seems to be a modern innovation. One needs to back to see the old dictionaries of Cantonese first, and we find that many modern ng- words were not once ng- initialed words, and that certain modern syllables beginning with a vowel in fact began with ng. This mixup may be driven by Hong Kong speech of late. To lend support to this, you need only need view old films from the 50's and 60's and you will see that Cantonese of that era and perhaps people who can remember those eras speak differently to younger folk.
For instance the following
English Modern 1950's
outside oi ngoi
love ngoi oi
house nguk uk
Dyl.