Brain drain

Jîn-châi gōa-liû

Fire (someone); get fired

Chhiáⁿ [person] kiâⁿ lō͘·
Tńg khì chia̍h8 ka-kī (“go back to eating your own (food)”)
Kā [person] sî-chit/sî-tiāu
Kā [person] sî thâu-lō͘·
Kā [person] thâi-thâu

連外交零用金也Ａ

This is the headline from an editorial in today’s China Times Mandarin edition. You’ll see the letter ‘A’ used like this from time to time in Taiwanese newspapers, almost always in articles about money. ‘A’, pronounced ē in Taiwanese, means to get something for free, either as a gift or givaway, or through corruption. The latter, in this case. It must be a relatively new word, because I can’t find it in any of my dictionaries.

The whole article is below, and the original editorial is here.

熱門話題－連外交零用金也Ａ

項城／北縣新莊(文字工作者)

　高檢署特偵組在偵辦陳前總統任內出訪十一次的外交零用金去向，竟出現阿扁每次都留下三萬美元款項，挪用為其子陳致中的留學費用支出，此筆公款私用計達三十三萬美元，約台幣一千萬左右，而且還把當時的外交部高官也捲入。

　一千多萬和海角數億比起來，當然是「小汙」見「大汙」，可是對民進黨和至今仍死忠挺扁的民眾而言，那可能是一記難堪的耳光。暫且不論扁搖身一變成美國人，要越洋告美國政府的國際笑話。就以任內一再自誇的烽火外交，和突破中共打壓，為台灣生存而努力自許，竟也成了個人拚經濟的貪腐行徑。

　還有更傷國人感情的就是拿人民血汗錢的外交零用金，匯去自家兒子身上成為求學所需，這對全國那些吃不起營養午餐，那些得靠助學貸款才能讀書上學的大專院校學生，真會有別人家的孩子死不完的被剝削痛苦感。這種嚴重傷了年輕一代情感與公平競爭行為，不就是民進黨不及早切割阿扁下的自食惡果嗎？

　阿扁在競選時以陳致中當兵服役，去修理國民黨高官，那些不用為國盡義務的子女耍特權。而今日卻用人民的錢替子女鋪上黃金地毯，此種招惹全民公憤之事若也能用建國基金去包裝，那民進黨還想重返執政之路可能永遠是場夢。

Informal lending circle of friends or family

Hōe-á

I teh chio hōe-á, lí kám beh tòe?

He’s going to get a lending circle together. Do you want to join in?

Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

Chèng-hú chhái-káng hia̍p8-tēng

Get back one’s initial investment; break even

Kàu-pún

Chit ki kó͘-phiò chá tio̍h8 kàu-pún ah.

I made back my initial investment in this stock a long time ago.

Never enough money

Thàn chîⁿ bô lâng kóng ū kàu-gia̍h8

Literally: When it comes to making money, no one ever says he has enough.

Legitimate goods (i.e. not fake)

Kong-si-hòe

 

Example:

Lí m̄-bián kiàⁿ, che cho̍at8-tùi sī kong-si-hòe.

Don’t worry, these are legit goods for sure.

Sell off (old merchandise); unload

Sià

Che sī kū-nî chhun ê hòe, só·-í sio̍k-sio̍k-á sià.

This is last year’s product, so sell it off cheap to get rid of it.

Add a condition; have as a condition

Khui tiâu-kiāⁿ

——————-

Lín kong-si khui hit-khóan tiâu-kiāⁿ, góa chò bē kàu.

If your company adds this kind of condition, I won’t be able to get it done.