Like father, like son

Iú kī hū, pit iú kî chú

Literally: You have the father, you must also have his son.

Related entry here.

My old lady

Gún tau hit-ê chú-pn̄g7 — ê

Literally: the one that makes the food at my house

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?

Mixed-race (person)

From least offensive to most offensive:

Hūn-hiat ê [“mixed-blood”]
Lām-hoeh [“mixed-up blood”]
pòaⁿ-hóng-á [?]

Of course, there’s always “mutt”:
cha̍p8-chéng-káu
Literally: “dog of ten kinds”

Update: Added the missing eight tone marker to chap8-cheng2-kau2. As you may have noticed, I’ve been having trouble getting the eighth tone to show up in WordPress lately.

Also, I just realized the chap8 of chap8-cheng2-kau2 could also be–and probably is–the chap8 meaning “mixed, confused,” as in hok8-chap8.

Common name, normal name

chhài-chhī-á miâ

Literally: a vegetable-market name

Take after your family; (be) family-centered

Kò· chhù

————

I chin kò· chhù.

He’s a good family man.

Become aware of things, start to understand things

Bat tāi-chì

(“know stuff”)

————————-

Góa chū bat tāi-chì kàu taⁿ, iáu m̄ bat kìⁿ kòe chit-khóan tāi-chì.

From the time I can remember until now, I’ve never seen such a thing.

We’re gonna have a baby

Góan Bó͘ Beh Seⁿ Kiáⁿ

Siàu-liân lâng chhiong-ji̍p-khì thâu-ke ê pān-kong-sek, beh chhéng-ká chi̍t tiám-cheng. ” Góan bó͘ beh seⁿ kiáⁿ !” I án-ne kái-soeh.

” Hó, kín khì.” Thâu-ke chin a-sá-lih kā tap-èng.

Kòe chi̍t tiám-cheng siàu-liân – - ê tńg-lâi siōng-pan. Thâu-ke chin koan-sim kā mn̄g:

” Seⁿ cha-po͘- -ê ā-sī cha-bó͘- -ê ?”

Siàu-liân- -ê chhiò-chhiò-á kā ìn :” Chit-má m̄ chai. Ài koh tán 9 kò-go̍eh !”

—————————

A young man runs into his boss’ office, wanting to take an hour off.  “We’re going to have a baby!” he explains.

His boss simply replies, “OK, get going then.”

After an hour, the young man returns to work.  His boss is very concerned and asks him:

“Was it a boy or a girl?”

The young man laughed and answered: “Don’t know yet…have to wait nine more months.”

Almost exactly alike

Beh kâng-á beh kâng

———————

Siang-seⁿ-á-kíaⁿ ê bīn-hêng lóng beh kâng-á beh kâng.

Twins’ faces are almost exactly alike.

 

Grandma’s White Hair [Eng-gí]

A first grader asked her mother: “People only have white hair when they get old. So how come you already have white hair when you’re barely thirty?”

Her mother replied: “When a child isn’t good it makes mommy mad, and then mommy gets white hair.”

Her daughter listened to this, and then looked like she suddenly understood something.  Her eyes got real wide, the corners of her mouth curled into a litle smile, she gave a big clap, and shouted: 

“Oh, I get it.  I get it now why grandma’s hair is is all white!”