Penang Hokkien Rhymes

[Loke]

Casting my mind back several decades now, I recall reciting children's rhymes as a kid but can't seem to recall them now. They were generally nonsensical (at least to me) but always got a good chuckle or two when recited. One rhyme in particular used to pick someone who was "in" during a game of hide-n-seek or catch (similar to using "eenie-meenie-minie-mo" in english), I think, started with counting up to the number 5 in Hokkien. Does anyone know this rhyme or recall similar rhymes?

[Andrew]

See the discussion at viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1611. I don't think anyone explained the meaning of tsui-loh tsui-peng-peng

[Loke]

Ok, thanks Andrew. The words tsui-loh tsui-peng-peng sound familiar but equally don't recall the meaning.

[SimL]

See the discussion at viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1611. I don't think anyone explained the meaning of tsui-loh tsui-peng-peng

Hi Andrew,

Weird how human memory works. I see in one reply to that question that I claimed at the time not to know this "rhyme" at all. Now, re-reading the entry, I recall that we used this rhyme as a prelude to playing some children's games (which one's exactly I no longer recall). One slight modification is that that in my memory, we said as the closing sentence: "cui-cui ciah-pa co lam1 peng" ("lam1" is the sandhied tone). I had then and have now no idea what that "lam" means.

SimL

[SimL]

Casting my mind back several decades now, I recall reciting children's rhymes as a kid but can't seem to recall them now. They were generally nonsensical (at least to me) but always got a good chuckle or two when recited. One rhyme in particular used to pick someone who was "in" during a game of hide-n-seek or catch (similar to using "eenie-meenie-minie-mo" in english), I think, started with counting up to the number 5 in Hokkien. Does anyone know this rhyme or recall similar rhymes?

Hi Loke,

Welcome to the Forum!

I went through the contents pages and picked out the main topics which are connected to rhymes or songs. Perhaps that will save you from having to read through all the past entries.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3256
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2698
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2700
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2720
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1574
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2170
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1626
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1624

Regards,
SimL.

[SimL]

I'm not sure if this nonsense rhyme was posted before. I did a search, but nothing turned up (but then, I don't think I'm using the search correctly - it used to work much better for me, so I think I'm doing something wrong this time).

This one was (sort of) "about" the 15th night of the Lunar New Year (apologies if I've made any typos in my transcription - I'm just doing this off the top of my head).

hue kim chEN
[firefly!]
cap gO mE
[15th Night of the Lunar New Year]
chiaN lang lai ciah tE
[we invite people to drink tea with us]

tE sio-sio
[the tea is hot]
kiaN lO khi be kin-cio
[we walk to buy bananas]
kin-cio be-ki pEh
[we forget to peel the bananas]
kiaN lO khi be chEh
[we walk to buy books]

chEh be-ki thak
[we forget to read the books]
kiaN lO khi be bak
[we walk to buy chinese ink]
bak be-ki bua
[we forget to rub (grind) the chinese ink]
kiaN lO khi be cua
[we walk to buy a snake]

cua be-ki so
[the snake forgets to crawl]
kiaN lO khi be go
[we walk to buy a goose]
go be-ki tan
[the goose forgets to make a noise]
kiaN lO khi be chan
[we walk to buy a field]

chan be-ki le
[we forget to plough(?) the field]
kiaN lO khi be e
[we walk to buy shoes]
e be-ki cheng
[we forget to wear the shoes]
kiaN lO khi be ka-leng
[we walk to buy a mynah bird]

...

The poem probably goes on for many more verses than this, but this is as many as I ever knew.

Regards,
SimL