Speak Pure Cantonese

(To catch crabs on a hill→難[nàan],難上難[nàan séuhng nàan])
Difficult; harder than hard, almost impossible

(A ghost covers one’s eyes)
1. To fail to see something
2. To fail to find something
3. A freudian slip

(if you have money, you can make a ghost push a millstone)
Everything is possible with money; money makes the world go round

(A ghost draws a talisman)
Illegible scribble, poor handwriting

(A ghost slaps the back of one’s head)
To let out a secret unknowingly

(An extra incense burner would attract an extra ghost)
Creating chance for someone to share your benefit. The tone of the proverb indicates a foolish act to invite losses.)

(To trick a ghost into eating tofu;cheating the ghost to eat bean curd)
1. To lure someone into a trap, to trick someone
2. Used to express scepticism or disbelief, “you’re kidding me!”

(To masquerade as a ghost and as a horse)
To play a role to deceive somebody, to play a part to trick someone

(To throw a paper aeroplane)
To break a promise, to break a commitment; to fail to turn up for a date

(A big tree has some dead branches)
There are good and bad people in every group.
Reference: 族大有乞兒[juhk daaih yáuh hāt yìh]

(Blowing a horn under the bed, implying speaking at a kowtow position →低聲下氣[dāi sēng haah hei])
In a begging/humble tone

(Even the Buddha gets inflamed)
To a degree that is intolerable, “that’s the limit!”.

(An old cat burns its whiskers)
An expert who makes a careless mistake in his/her own expertise.

(To pull a cow up a tree)
A vain attempt to do something

(Female pigs can climb trees)
When pigs fly

(A bird in an open cage)
Someone who chatters all the time

(Two-headed snake)
1. someone who works for both sides in a deal
2. A servant of two masters

(Chopping wood under a bed. →包撞板[bāau johng báan]. If someone is hiding under a bed but moves vigorously, very possibly he would bang his head against the wooden plate above him.)
Epic fail; A method that doesn’t work

(A glass safe →襟睇唔襟用[kām tái m̀h kām yuhng], 有得睇冇得使[yáuh dāk tái móuh dāk sái])
Something that looks good but is not practical.

(Steaming sponge cake on top, selling cool powder below. Cool powder is glass jelly in English)
It usually describes women who wear heavy clothing on top but barely cover their legs with mini skirts/short shorts during cold winter.

(Hang up a sheep’s head and sell dog meat)
Try to palm off something.

(A big stone crushes a crab)
An unequal contest

(Spilled a basket of crabs)
messy; troublesome

(A fishmonger washes his body – 冇晒腥氣[móuh saai sēng hei] “no stinky smell”, which sounds like 冇晒聲氣[móuh saai sēng hei] “no breath”. )
To have yet to receive a positive response

(To boil telephone congee)
To talk for hours on the phone.

(Winter melon and tofu)
1. An emergency, a crisis
2. An unfortunate event, especially death.

(A pot hanged upside down, →冇飯開,窮到粒米都冇[móuh faahn hōi, kùhng dóu nāp máih dōu móuh] implying that there is no rice left)
Poverty, penniless

(ten tea pots and nine lids →捉襟見肘[jūk kām gin jáu])
demand out numbers supply; not enough
Reference: 十個盎九個蓋, 十只煲九只蓋[sahp go ōng gáu go goi, sahp ji bōu gáu go goi]

(Use a little knife to saw down a tree)
Use little capital to make big profit

(A thief is testing a pot. →試下先[si haah sīn] A burglar tests if there is any one home by breaking a pot.)
Test the waters before doing bad things

(An umbrella with broken handle →無揸拿[móuh jāa nàah])
To fight to the bitter end, to refuse to admit one is in the wrong
also 斷柄遮[dyun beng jē] →無揸拿[móuh jāa nàah]broken handle umbrella); no certainty

(Loose string monkey)
1. A very naughty child
2. Someone no longer under the control of their superior or guardian.

(A monkey got a tangerine →開心,執到寶咁開心[hōi sām, jāp dóu bóu gam hōi sām])
Someone looks very happy as if he has discovered treasure.

(To ship tangerines)
To visit a shop or a person without any particular purpose, to be “just looking” in a shop; to waste someone’s time

(*Gang members extort money by forcing shops to buy pots of tangerines)

(a ghost eats mud)
to slur your words

(A blind man eats glue pudding →心裡有數[sām léuih yáuh sou])
Know the score

(To eat slippers rice →食軟飯[sihk yúhng faahn], 靠女人養[kaau néuih yán yéuhng])
Used to describe a man who is supported by a woman, i.e. he can keep his slippers on, because he doesn’t have to work; a man who sponges off a woman

(To have eaten someone’s cart)
To exploit or expropriate the belongings of others (a reference to the rules of Chinese chess)

(To eat from a bowl and then turn it over)
Go back upon somebody. Play somebody false. Betray a friend.

(to eat a dead cat)
1. To take the blame for something one has not done
2. To be a scapegoat, to “carry the can”

(To throw a gourd →大隻廣,吹牛[daai jek gwóng, chēui ngàuh])
Self-boasting, bragging

(To throw a flying sword)
To spit

(To watch a horse fight from the top of a fort →事不關己,睇熱鬧[sih bāt gwāan géi, tái yiht naauh])
Observing from the sidelines

(An elephant flies across the river)
1. To break a rule
2. To reach across the table for food (a reference to the rules of Chinese chess)

(In a crisis, a horse can move in the field)
To be flexible, to adapt to circumstances in an emergency (a reference to the rules of Chinese chess).

(To pull up the planks after crossing the bridge)
To betray one’s friends once the crisis is over, to abandon one’s friends once one is safe

(A monk holding an umbrella →無髮無天[móuh faat móuh tīn] “no hair no sky”, which sounds like 無法無天 [móuh faat móuh tīn] “no law no heaven”)
No respect for law and order; unruly

(If a cow doesn’t want to drink, you can’t force its head down)
If someone is unwilling to do something, it is not possible to force them; you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

(When there are no shoes, grab the clogs and run)
To withdraw hurriedly from an awkward situation

(when one’s horse dies, one has to walk)
To rely on oneself, to have to get oneself through a difficulty without help.

(Got hold of the deer but can’t get the horn)
To be unable to make best use of an opportunity.

(Hitting everyone on a boat with a punt pole)
To overgeneralise in assigning blame, e.g. to blame a whole group of people for one person’s mistake. Get tarred with the same brush

(Hitting a tiger inside a boat full of potteries →盡地一煲[jeuhn deih yāt bōu], 在絕境下最後一博[joih jyuht gíng haah jeui hauh yāt bok])
To risk everything on one bet; to gamble everything on one plan

(Plumb line on a ship)
Someone who is always asking others for money (since 度水 dohk séui can mean either “to borrow money” or “to measure water”).

[hāk gáu dāk sihk,
baahk gáu dōng jōi](The black dog gets the food, the white dog gets the punishment)
Somebody benefits by their wrongdoing, while another person gets the blame.

(Water enters a pig basket)
To have many different ways to make money, to have money coming from many different enterprises or sources.

(A damp firecracker)
1. Useless
2. Someone with a calm temperament, who doesn’t lose their temper

(Pineapple chicken →靠黐[kaau chī], 一味靠黐[yāt meih kaau chī])
Someone who takes advantage of other people; an exploiter

(*Pineapple chicken is the mascot of the Pala Temple in Canton,
which sounds like pineapple temple in Cantonese.
The mascot is made by gluing feathers on cardboard.
In Cantonese, “glue” can also mean “sponging off one’s relatives or friends”.
As the whole chicken is made by gluing,
it becomes a symbol of someone who loves to “glue”, sponging off people.)

(One-eyed man looks at his wife →一眼睇晒[yāt ngáahn tái saai])
Too few/simple/obvious that one can see/understand everything in a “second”.

(Puppies lifting /carrying a sedan chair →不識抬舉[bāt sīk tòih géui] not knowing how to lift/carry things)
Fail to appreciate others’ favours/flattering

(Draw an ear on the wall →唔聽流言[m̀h tēng làuh yìhng])
Words treated as unimportant, advice that is ignored

(To scrape the door nails)
To go to visit someone but not find them at home, to arrange a meeting with someone but not to find them.

(A dog bites another dog’s bones)
Fighting among members of the same group

(Using a dead chicken to push back the cooking-pot lid)
To fight to the bitter end, to refuse to admit one is in the wrong

(To stir-fry squid)
To dismiss an employee

(To slaughter a white crane)
To vomit, to throw up

(Talking under a fan →講風涼話[góng fūng lèuhng waah] a chilling talk )
Saying something rude upon others’ mistakes or misfortune, inconsiderate to others’ feeling)

(Wind breaks an eggshell →財散人安樂[chòih saan yàhn ōn lohk])
Don’t worry about losing money. Be at ease with less fortune.

(To hit a snake and it crawls up the stick)
To exploit a situation to one’s advantage, to ask for something or something extra by seizing a particular opportunity.

(Rice stalks covering pearls)
To pretend to be poor, to hide one’s true wealth (e.g. residents of public housing estates who are too wealthy to qualify for public housing)

(A chicken eats fireflies →心知肚明[sām jī tóuh mìhng])
To know in one’s heart, to fully understand, to not need to think further (As the chicken eats fireflies, its belly lights up)

(A doorless chicken coop →自出自入[jih chēut jih yahp])
A place where you can come and go as you wish.

(The chickens are fighting inside the coop)
Dissent withing an organisation, an internal rift, factional fighting; infighting

(One chicken dies, one chicken crows)
When one person leaves a business or an occupation, another will take it up.

(A mouse pulls a turtle →無掟埋手[móuh deng màaih sáu])
At one’s wits’ end

(To pull a cat’s tail)
Two people supporting each other’s stories in order to avoid a problem; to lie one’s way out of a problem.

(To catch a yellow-legged chicken →捉姦[jūk gāan])
To catch someone having illicit sex; to arrange a trap or “set up” in which someone is blackmailed after being lured into a compromising position or into having sex, to set a “honey trap”.

(To paste up the door gods wrongly)
To become hostile, to turn aggressive and nasty (since the door gods are normally pasted up so that they face each other, put if put up wrongly they face away from each other).

(A tortoise passing a sill, →看此一翻/番[hon chí yāt fāan] implying someone who can’t get on or get off)
Unable to solve a problem or escape from it. A stalemate.

(To ride an ox looking for a horse)
To be working one job but looking out for a better one

(To pick up a dead chicken)
1. To take something which someone else has lost or thrown away
2. To take advantage of a situation
3. To start off a relationship with someone who has been rejected by their former lover
4. To get the benefit of someone else’s hard work
5. To score an easy goal after a shot has been blocked by the goal keeper.

(Water off a duck’s back)
To make no impression on (the memory), to forget (a lesson); like water off a duck’s back

(such a big frog hopping around the street)
too good to be true