On break, while reading Noble House, I came across the words: dew neh loh moh. From context I realized it was obviously a curse. Then I cam across it again and again and again until my interest was peaked.
So, I read the words allowed and hear Ping gasp. What in the world does dew neh loh moh mean?
It means, word for word, fuck your old mother. Clavell plays with the phonetic spelling he employs.
It has been suggested that Dew neh loh moh is Hakka. Perhaps, but the Hakka for you isn't neh, at least not in our dialect. The Hakka for you is more like nhhh or ng.
No, in my opinion dew neh loh moh is pure Cantonese.
How authentic is it? People say it, but I've never heard it in person. Clavell seems to do this. He makes his characters swear.
Clavell doubtless knows more Malay than me, but his curses in Malay are of a sexual nature. And I've recently read that Malays aren't really big on that sort of thing.
Incidentally, there's a character in Noble House that deliberately wears a green hat.
I've also come across it in Clavell books but never heard it in South China. To be fair, I speak no Cantonese and only a little Mandarin. The locals here do not recognize the less insulting "amah" which seems to mean "ayi" (nanny) in the books. Cantonese-speaking ayis here are not familiar with it.
ReplyDeleteI live in Hong Kong and got no one wanted to tell me what it meant. After running around shouting it in an education center they relented and told me it means 'Go fuck your mother' and is a very bad thing to say.
ReplyDeleteI also read it in Noble House. Great book but The words would never be used like he used them in the book. You can add 'chau hei' on the end to be more offensive.
ReplyDeleteI first came across this term in approximately 1983 - 1985 in a book by Eric Van Lustbader, (described as a man that understands both oriental and western minds). He is a well known & prolific Author.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of his books, (that I've read) are based on martial arts, with very descriptive martial arts fighting moves, and educational differences explained between and insights into the cultures.
They are also contain a fair amount of sex.
The meaning given for the phrase, was also given then, as has already been given above. I will phrase it slightly differently, but I gather the meaning will be understood by many. :)
'Go forth and mutliply, your mother'.