[quote=“ironlady”]Yeah, so if the road from Bali to Hsinchuang b[/b] is “Bahsin b[/b] Road”, what
I know what you mean but I don’t suggest you guys learn this slang, this sounds so grubby, dirty and people would feel you are uncivilized to hear you say that. 
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Learning and using are two different things. Besides, if we truly learned it well, we would also learn when not to use it (the Taiwanese word Ji Bai), which is 99.99% of the time. 
Unless you’re from Scotland, where you can use it to replace “person.”
As in: “See that wee cnt over there? He says that specky cnt in the corner’s got some barry posh. Tenner a fuckin’ wrap, ken?”
I recently saw an Australian movie set in 1969 that had the following lines:
[quote]Man 1 (to nearby woman): Hi, gorgeous! Care for a screw?
Man 2 (to the same woman): He used to say “fuck.”
Woman (to Man 1): Any particular reason for the change?
Man 1: Yeah, I get more fucks when I say “screw.” [/quote]
Don’s Party – a great film.
[quote=“Sir Donald Bradman”]Just tracked it down. The 3/8 San ba holiday is Women’s day (Funu Jie). From what I can tell it may just be a PRC holiday. If this phrase really came from this festival, that would mean it originated in da lu. Anyway, this reasoning fits, as saying “ta hen sanba” means that she’s really ‘girly’, or if it’s a he, he’s really camp. I think it’s also just taken ona more general derogatory tone, which doesn’t have this specific meaning.
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I heard the story from my Chinese teacher a long time ago (another unverified story) that stems from the 1800’s. Apparently foreigners (or maybe female foreigners) living in China at the time were only allowed out of there specific foreign enclave three times a month - the 8th, the 18th and the 28th. Especially at that time, Chinese who never dealt with foreigners before saw these foreign women laughing and joking or whatever and thought it was kind of odd behavior, and the term ‘san ba’ we coined to describe it.
NO idea if its true, but makes an interesting story.
The slang I always heard for ‘roughing up the suspect’ was ‘Da shou qiang’ - shooting the pistol.
Brian
Don’t forget wu da yi (five hit one).
Horse horse tiger tiger
馬馬虎虎 mama huhu or in English, so-so
Taiwanese tend to over use the English translation of this one, but strangely I rarely hear them say it in Chinese or Taiwanese.
OMG, I alwmost died when I saw some of the replies, this thread has turned into Vulgar Language 101.
The phrase 三八 doesn’t always refer to female as whore, bimbos, etc. It can also refer to anyone who can’t keep any secret and likes to spread anything bad to someone whom you talk about. In simpler terms, it means someone who gossips a lot.
Speaking of femal c#$t, in Spanish each country has different slangs for it, it was quite funny, they used mico or guava (which is a fruit) in Costa Rica.
When I had been teaching here about 6 months I had a new student in class. He was at the same elementary school as a couple of the others. He had already learned English for a year or so at another buxiban. I asked him what his English name was but he wouldn’t say anything. His schoolmates told me;
“His name’s Bala”. I asked them;
“Really? That’s a strange name”. They assured me that it was. I asked the new student;
“Is your name Bala?” He didn’t contradict me. I wrote his name on the board and in the register.
Teaching Bala was hard work. He remained singularly unresponsive and his sullen mood deepened. I cajoled him;
“Come on, Bala, join in with the others…I can’t hear you, Bala, speak up a little…Okay, open your books, everybody - Bala, you too”, always addressing and referring to him by name.
It was some time after class when our secretary helpfully told me that among Taiwanese kids, ‘bala’, the word for guava, means ‘bad guy’.
4 years ago I saw a Taiwanese band whose name was ‘88 Guavas’ or ‘Ba shi ba zhi ba la’.
Brian
Perhaps
38= large bra size= bimbo?
Would 38 cm be considered a large measurement where you come from?
Is this slang for something? I have heard it a couple times and it has nothing to do with the number. I’m not sure of the tones.
SKI
I believe it means one is a little crazy.
Thanks, after confronting my wife with that she was forced to admit what she was saying about me on the phone to her freind.
Yidian dian ada/silly.
ski
I never use this with girls as I had one really freak out on me, to women it means something like B1tch.
I use it on my boy students all the time when they get out of line. I just sign it though and let them figure it out. With one hand using the Chinese hand signals make a 3 than an 8. It may take them awhile, but eventually they’ll get the message and chill out. It’s actually quite funny to see them saying in English 3-8-3-8… When they finally figure it out They get the best expression on their face. If only I had a camera. I’ll also write it on the board and anybodies name who is acting up. Surprisingly nobody acts up after I do that.
CYA
Okami
I might be mistaken, but I thought “san-ba” is used for women, not men. I think men have a different number–49?
I was under the impression that it means bimbo or airhead and is only used for women.