Sai chhia

[Andrew]

Happy Christmas all!

I noticed in HK that the Cantonese use 駛 (Douglas: to ride a horse quick / to sail) to mean to drive a car. It has the same pronunciation as 使 (Douglas: to use, to cause, to send) and would seem to have a closer meaning. Why do we normally use the latter rather than the former?

[SimL]

Hi Andrew,

Well, I wouldn't dare to venture an opinion on your question, but wanted just to wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010 in return. And I extend similar wishes to all the readers, especially to the active participants here on the Minnan Forum

[niuc]

Blessed Merry Christmas to all!

Andrew, I am not sure about 使車, but personally I write 駛車. Btw, 大使 is pronounced as 'tai7-sai3' instead of 'tai3-sai2' in my variant.

[xng]

Happy Christmas all!

I noticed in HK that the Cantonese use 駛 (Douglas: to ride a horse quick / to sail) to mean to drive a car. It has the same pronunciation as 使 (Douglas: to use, to cause, to send) and would seem to have a closer meaning. Why do we normally use the latter rather than the former?

In Msia/Singapore, they use Hua and not Sai, as far as I know.

So I am not sure what is the origin. 'We' as in who ?

A lot of the commonly used characters are wrong eg. P'ai, just look at the benzi thread.

[SimL]

In Msia/Singapore, they use Hua and not Sai, as far as I know.

In Penang they say "sai".

[xng]

In Msia/Singapore, they use Hua and not Sai, as far as I know.

In Penang they say "sai".

Again, one of the many differences between northern and southern Msia hokkien I am not aware of.

In that case, it should be 駛. There are many homophones so we have to match the closest in meaning.