Taiwanese "KAO YA"- can ayone explain?

Language Learning Chinese
#1

I have this embarrassing habit of inserting taiwanese swears into my mandarin conversation because i don’t know what rates as a swear and what is more like the teasing that’s such an important part of taiwanese social life.

Before anyone asks…you learn these things when you hang out in pool halls and internet cafes all the time : )

KAO YA…JI BAI…GAN NI MA…I’ve said them all in polite company, ruining many an afternoon tea.

My latest gaffe: Saying KAO YA to a taiwanese friend who’s something of a whiner.

Well she got real quiet and I knew i’d stepped in it (again). Groveling ensued. All was forgiven.

Later I asked another friend to explain why KAO YA is such a terrible thing to say to someone. Was it 臟話 (zang1hua4)?

“it’s even worse than 臟話” she said. There followed an extremely convoluted explanation about mourning for ones dead father, or a famous story about a child mourning for a dead father to which KAOYA is an allusion, and that KAOYA in chinese is 哭么 (kuyao), which means “crying youngest child” or something…anyone have any information on this?

The best I can figure, KAOYA means “Stop acting like the youngest child in the family mourning for his dead father.” ie, you have nothing to whine about, so shut up. Close?

And i guess that KAOYA refers to the death of a relative, so it belongs to a subterannean class of swears even worse than the merely sexual or scatalogical kinds of 臟話.

How far off am I here?

#2

It’s the equivalent of saying F-you. Kids in an English class often laugh when they hear the English word Cow and sometimes try to use it as much as possible. However that would be what sounds like Yao to my ears and not Ya.

Maybe you’re right about the deeper meaning or maybe you said it in a different tone and altered the meaning. :idunno:

#3

Strangely hazy on this but from what I remember you are right, but I think it’s more in the sense of wishing someone else’s parents dead. In a sense go mourn for your dead parents.

Kao as in fuck is different again and usually stands alone or is attached to who you want to set the person upon, mothers often feature in fight talk, of course.

Still, you are brave if not outright stupid for dropping Taiwanese swear words when you are not clear on their meaning. The use of swearing is nowhere near as universally accepted as it is in English and it can paint a very crude impression of who you are to those around you. You’d be way better off not using any swear words at all. Alright, know the sounds, just don’t repeat them, and especially if you are not up for fighting over them. Additionally, Taiwanese women don’t dig it at all.

HG

#4

Now I’m not sure which phrase you are actually referring to. However, if the phrase is “Kao Yow”, I have some info. My walking dictionary tells me, after confering with other family “volumes”, that it basically means “Stop bugging (bothering) me.” Also that it’s not strong enough to be insulting, so anyone who is insulted by it is overreacting.

The other phrase, about crying over someone’s dead father, is “Kao Bae (bay)”.

EDIT: Apparently, “kao bae” has two common usages. One similar to saying “Hey, you are crying like your father died” (saying they are overreacting). Second, similar to “Hey, I hope your father dies”, which of course is a very serious curse. All of this is considered low brow vocabulary that wouldn’t be used by decent, educated people.

#5

Oh yeah, that’s right and that’s why kids start twittering about whiteout in Mandarin, sounds similar (li ke bai).

HG

#6

i agree with seeker, literal translation of “kaoyao” is “(are you) crying from hunger” it’s not offensive in itself but it’s most commonly used angrily when someone is being unusually obtuse or annoying, which presumably was the unexpected impression you gave your friend. less forcefully stressed it can also be a general expression of aggravation (which i am in the habit of often saying hehe) and friends might bounce it back and forth at high volume without any apparent ill effects. anyway nowhere near as severe as the other 2 taiwanese curses you mentioned which could much more easily be fighting words :slight_smile:

#7

You’re right, I should be careful. Don’t call me stupid though, not nice :wink:

But I should be clear, i didn’t know it was a swear. Taiwanese guys say it so much and so casually, much of the venom seems has gone out of the expression (for them anyway).

In the future I will use greater caution repeating vocabulary I learn at the billiards hall :laughing:

Re: your comment that taiwanese girls hate a potty mouth, I am reminded of the time I walked in on my demure, petit, angelic sweety and her little brother arguing playfully in the kitchen…and telling each other to eat shit! And worse!

Ni chi dabian!

Qu ni ma!

:astonished:

#8

I was somewhat disappointed that there weren’t any pictures of Peking duck in this thread. I could sure go for some.

#9

Correct, and Kaoyao is “Hey, you are crying like your KID died”. Meaning, shut the f… up! Can be said only to friends, preferably not to strangers, they might hit you :sunglasses:

#10

beautifulspam: I think you’ve got the wrong character showing there for zang1hua4. You’ve got zang4hua4 up there.

#11

NJStar (南極星) says it’s correct, and that 臟 can be read with flat or fourth tone, which changes the meaning from zang4 (internal organs) to zang1 (dirty).

which character would you suggest instead?

#12

[quote=“beautifulspam”]NJStar (南極星) says it’s correct, and that 臟 can be read with flat or fourth tone, which changes the meaning from zang4 (internal organs) to zang1 (dirty).

which character would you suggest instead?[/quote]

髒

The problem is that 脏 is the simplified character for both 髒 and 臟 My guess is that NJStar gets confused because of that. Or is there more to it? Anyone?

#13

And I thought “kao ya” meant “roast duck”…

#14

my Taiwanese wife says, “kao yao” means 哭餓 (“crying because of hunger”) like tempo gain said

I usually hear it while playing basketball when someone misses a shot. in this case he is probably “crying” himself because he “hungers for a field goal” and it is far from being meant to insult someone else. any phrase with the meaning of f**k should have at least a “gan” (幹) component if you asked me.

I never swear in Taiwanese, because that seems to be silly coming from a foreigner who doesn’t speak Taiwanese, but I often can’t stop myself from letting a “ta ma de” (他媽的) slip through my lips, which has the meaning “his mother” like you all know…

I first thought it comes close to the English motherf*****, but than I saw some old films about emperor Kangxi where a teahouse keeper says “ta ma de” all the time, so I think it is not THAT offensive.

Anyway, I try do avoid swearing. Swearing no good… :slight_smile:

#15

Correct, and Kaoyao is “Hey, you are crying like your KID died”. Meaning, shut the f… up! Can be said only to friends, preferably not to strangers, they might hit you :sunglasses:[/quote]

I was told something along these lines too – my source says that only the lowest class of person uses this (gangsters, etc.) and that they are fighting words, to be strictly avoided.

#16

Can’t be bothered to start a new thread for this, but thought I’d mention it anyway.

The next time you’re in class, write down this number on the board and say it aloud in Taiwanese: 0806449

One of my students taught me that and I tried it out on a couple of my middle school classes and the boys instantly exploded in laughter. I tried asking some of the Chinese teachers, and it took some of them a while to get.

May not work in Taibei.

#17

Nope. In Taipei “kao3 ya1” definitely means “roast duck”.

yum yum

#18

[quote=“alidarbac”]Can’t be bothered to start a new thread for this, but thought I’d mention it anyway.

The next time you’re in class, write down this number on the board and say it aloud in Taiwanese: 0806449

One of my students taught me that and I tried it out on a couple of my middle school classes and the boys instantly exploded in laughter. I tried asking some of the Chinese teachers, and it took some of them a while to get.

May not work in Taibei.[/quote]

Care to explain?

#19

08

that could mean “Your Father”…

so what is the old man up to, I wonder…

#20

[quote=“hannes”]08

that could mean “Your Father”…

so what is the old man up to, I wonder…[/quote]

Drinking piss, I believe.