pronunciation of 邋遢

[tooironic]

How do you pronounce 邋遢 ("sloppy; slovenly; messy; unkempt")?

I always thought it was lāta but this dictionary gives the reading láta. Is that how it's pronounced in Taiwan only? If that is the case, surely this is a rare example of a word in Taiwan being pronounced in the neutral tone (轻声)? Although there may be other examples, I'm not sure...

Thanks!

[andysun731]

lāta is commonly heard. You can see here baike.baidu.com/view/8164.htm.

[tooironic]

Well, yes, obviously. But I was hoping if someone in Taiwan could provide me with their pronunciation?

[Koxinga]

According to a friend from Taipei, it's lāta.

[semantic nuance]

In spoken language, I say 'la1 ta1', and so do my friends.

[Takeshi]

I had to look up this word, then I realized I knew it in Cantonese.

But I never knew that this word was usable in Mandarin in the first place. I thought in Mandarin you were supposed to say 髒 or something like that instead.

[andysun731]

There was a famous cartoon called 邋遢大王奇遇记 20 years ago.

[tooironic]

@Takeshi 邋遢 is a pretty common word in Mandarin, and distinctive enough that people will understand it even if you say it by itself without any context. Also, its meaning goes beyond 脏 - it can also mean "sloppy" (做事不谨慎).