TSkillet Posted July 30, 2003 at 02:11 PM Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 at 02:11 PM Mandarin. Several I've seen - "niu zai ku" - from the cantonese ngau zai fu - blue jeans. The nonsensical "desi" - from the Cantonese "Dic See" - taxi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted July 30, 2003 at 02:28 PM Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 at 02:28 PM 牛仔 - niuzai - cowboy (according to my hallowed little red dictionary) 裤 - ku - trousers. So cowboy trousers = blue jeans - there's still logic in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 30, 2003 at 03:10 PM Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 at 03:10 PM Where have you seen "deshi" used anywhere outside of Hong Kong or the Cantonese-speaking region? In Taiwan, taxis are called Jichengche and Chuzuqiche in the mainland. The *ONLY* time I heard of anything remotely close to "deshi" being used was when I was in Beijing, a Korean student told me that "da di" is a slang for "to take a cab", I'm assuming the "di" is the same character as "de" in "deshi". But then again, I haven't really heard anyone else use that term in the month and half I spent in Beijing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSkillet Posted July 30, 2003 at 04:24 PM Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 at 04:24 PM roddy - my mandarin teacher tells me that the "zai3" is a cantonese back formation into mandarin - and is only of recent vintage. She's not very happy about the addition of cantonese type phrases into mandarin. kulong - a lot of people I know in Beijing do use the "da di" slang - which is from the "dap dik" in Cantonese - and it's certainly common to use the mandarin version of cantonese phrases in cities in Guangdong. I'd also heard it several times in Shanghai when I was living there - it's not common, but it's not out of the ordinary either. I never did here in taiwan. Funny enough, most of my cantonese friends don't even call it a "dik-see" anymore - they say "tax" - like "let's take the tax" - as in the english word. But they're strange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 30, 2003 at 04:59 PM Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 at 04:59 PM roddy - my mandarin teacher tells me that the "zai3" is a cantonese back formation into mandarin - and is only of recent vintage. She's not very happy about the addition of cantonese type phrases into mandarin. That's true. But actually the word "zai" is also used in many other Southern dialects such as Taiwanese (Minnanhua). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSkillet Posted July 30, 2003 at 05:16 PM Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 at 05:16 PM I'm sure that all of the southern dialects are more closely related to each other than to putonghua - if by nothing less than proximity and distance from the capital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChouDoufu Posted July 30, 2003 at 05:33 PM Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 at 05:33 PM So why does all this Cantonese find it's way into Mandarin, anyway? My own personal unproven, unsubstantiated theory is that it's from pop-culture. Movies and such... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted July 30, 2003 at 05:40 PM Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 at 05:40 PM My own personal unproven, unsubstantiated theory is that it's from pop-culture. Movies and such... I agree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wix Posted July 30, 2003 at 11:35 PM Report Share Posted July 30, 2003 at 11:35 PM Where have you seen "deshi" used anywhere outside of Hong Kong or the Cantonese-speaking region? It is on every single taxi-stand in Xiamen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChouDoufu Posted July 31, 2003 at 01:53 PM Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 at 01:53 PM wouldn't it be "dishi" instead of "deshi". After all, it only makes sense since you can also "da di"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSkillet Posted July 31, 2003 at 02:30 PM Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 at 02:30 PM it's 的士 - just so we're clear - on the Hong Kong taxis. So in pinyin - that's "deshi" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted July 31, 2003 at 02:38 PM Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 at 02:38 PM That 'de' can also be pronounced as 'di' - examples are as Choudoufu mentions in 打的 - take a cab, and also 的哥 - taxi driver (also 的姐) It's also pronounced 'di' in '的确' - actually, really. I've also heard it pronounce 'di' by kids when you'd normally expect 'de' and in some really really bad songs ie. 这是谁的? 我的 (wodi) Roddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChouDoufu Posted July 31, 2003 at 02:38 PM Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 at 02:38 PM it's 的士 - just so we're clear - on the Hong Kong taxis. So in pinyin - that's "deshi" I still think it could be dishi... 的 has three readings in pinyin (de di2 di4). And to repeat myself, the slang expression to catch a cab is "da di" not "da de". Are you positive it's "deshi"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holyman Posted July 31, 2003 at 04:43 PM Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 at 04:43 PM it's di shi in beijing . and the taxi driver is a 'di ge', not a 'de ge'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSkillet Posted July 31, 2003 at 10:34 PM Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2003 at 10:34 PM ah, well, there you go. corrected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holyman Posted August 1, 2003 at 03:04 AM Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 at 03:04 AM my own opinion only, 'de' is probably a putonghua creation. the older pronouciation should be 'di', and cantonese are using that. think its 'dit4 si1' in cantonese right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSkillet Posted August 1, 2003 at 02:50 PM Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2003 at 02:50 PM well, there you go. . .corrected Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSkillet Posted August 2, 2003 at 04:07 AM Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2003 at 04:07 AM holyman - I don't really know Cantonese coding for tones since I never learned it formally - but it's really a "dik see" sound The Dik sound is a lot like the mandarin tone (high and across) while the si is similar to mandarin 3rd (starts high and falls and goes up again- but it's not quite) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holyman Posted August 2, 2003 at 05:03 AM Report Share Posted August 2, 2003 at 05:03 AM well, maybe my cantonese different or i could be wrong. i think different places they varied a bit. my place was influence more by english and people dont really use chinese writing, so they tend to go tone1 for 'see', closer to english. if u take the chinese term 'deshi', however, i think yours is probably correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holyman Posted August 2, 2003 at 05:04 AM Report Share Posted August 2, 2003 at 05:04 AM or maybe tone 2 for 'see' is correct... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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