香港諺語 (By Wan Michelle)

 

這幅名為《大粵港諺語》圖，由香港的設計師阿塗繪製，內裡隱藏了81個香港地道的諺語，希望捍衛廣東話。

 
01 上山捉蟹（難上加難）: (To catch crabs on a hill) Harder than hard, almost impossible
02 鬼揞眼: (A ghost covers one’s eyes)1. To fail to see something, 2. To fail to find something, 3. A freudian slip
03 有錢使得鬼推磨: (if you have money, you can make a ghost push a millstone) Everything is possible with money; money makes the world go round
04 鬼畫符: (A ghost draws a talisman)Illegible scribble, poor handwriting
05 鬼拍後尾枕: (A ghost slaps the back of one’s head) To let out a secret unknowingly
06 多個香爐多隻鬼: (An extra incense burner would attract an extra ghost) Creating chance for someone to share your benefit. The tone of the proverb indicates a foolish act to invite losses.
07 呃鬼食豆腐: (To trick a ghost into eating tofu) 1. To lure someone into a trap, to trick someone, 2. Used to express scepticism or disbelief, “you’re kidding me!”
08 扮鬼扮馬: (To masquerade as a ghost and as a horse) To play a role to deceive somebody, to play a part to trick someone
09 放飛機: (To throw a paper aeroplane) To break a promise, to break a commitment; to fail to turn up for a date
10 樹大有枯枝: (A big tree has some dead branches) There are good and bad people in every group
11 床下底吹喇叭（低聲下氣）: (Blowing a horn under the bed, implying speaking at a kowtow position) In a begging / humble tone
12 佛都有火: (Even the Buddha gets inflamed) To a degree that is intolerable, “that’s the limit!”.
13 老貓燒鬚: (An old cat burns its whiskers) An expert who makes a careless mistake in his/her own expertise.
14 拉牛上樹: (To pull a cow up a tree) A vain attempt to do something
15 豬乸會上樹: (Female pigs can climb trees) When pigs fly
16 開籠雀: (A bird in an open cage) Someone who chatters all the time
17 兩頭蛇: (Two-headed snake) 1. someone who works for both sides in a deal, 2. A servant of two masters
18 床下底劈柴（撞板）: (Chopping wood under a bed. If someone is hiding under a bed but moves vigorously, very possibly he would bang his head against the wooden plate above him.) Epic fail; A method that doesn’t work
19 玻璃夾萬（有得睇冇得使）: (A glass safe) Something that looks good but is not practical.
20 上面蒸鬆糕 下面賣涼粉: (Steaming sponge cake on top, selling cool powder below.) It usually describes women who wear heavy clothing on top but barely cover their legs with mini skirts/short shorts during cold winter.
21 掛羊頭賣狗肉: (Hang up a sheep’s head and sell dog meat) Try to palm off something.
22 大石砸死蟹: (A big stone crushes a crab) An unequal contest
23 倒瀉籮蟹: (Spilled a basket of crabs) messy; troublesome
24 賣魚佬洗身（冇晒聲(腥)氣）: (A fishmonger washes his body – 冇晒腥氣 “no stinky smell”, which sounds like 冇晒聲氣 “no news”. ) To have yet to receive a positive responsevvvvvvv
25 煲電話粥: (To boil telephone congee) To talk for hours on the phone.
26 冬瓜豆腐: (Winter melon and tofu) 1. An emergency, a crisis, 2. An unfortunate event, especially death.
27 倒吊沙煲（窮到冇米）: (A pot hanged upside down, implying that there is no rice left) Poverty, penniless
28 十個沙煲九個蓋: (ten tea pots and nine lids) Demand out numbers supply; not enough
29 刀仔据大樹: (Use a little knife to saw down a tree) Use little capital to make big profit
30 賊佬試沙煲: (A thief is testing a pot. A burglar tests if there is any one home by breaking a pot.) Test the waters before doing bad things
31 冇柄遮（死撐）: (An umbrella with broken handle) To fight to the bitter end, to refuse to admit one is in the wrong
32 甩繩馬騮: (Loose string monkey) 1. A very naughty child, 2. Someone no longer under the control of their superior or guardian.
33 馬騮執到桔（執到寶咁開心）: (A monkey got a tangerine) Someone looks very happy as if he has discovered treasure.
34 運桔: (To ship tangerines) To visit a shop or a person without any particular purpose, to be “just looking” in a shop; to waste someone’s time
35 鬼食泥: (a ghost eats mud) to slur your words
36 盲公食湯圓（心中有數）: (A blind man eats glue pudding) Know the score
37 食拖鞋飯: (To eat slippers rice) Used to describe a man who is supported by a woman, i.e. he can keep his slippers on, because he doesn’t have to work; a man who sponges off a woman
38 食人隻車: (To have eaten someone’s cart) To exploit or expropriate the belongings of others
39 食碗面反碗底: (To eat from a bowl and then turn it over) Go back upon somebody. Play somebody false. Betray a friend.
40 食死貓: (to eat a dead cat) 1. To take the blame for something one has not done, 2. To be a scapegoat, to “carry the can”
41 放葫蘆（吹噓）: (To throw a gourd) Self-boasting, bragging
42 放飛劍（吐痰）: (To throw a flying sword) To spit
43 企喺城樓睇馬打交（袖手旁觀）: (To watch a horse fight from the top of a fort) Observing from the sidelines
44 飛象過河: (An elephant flies across the river) 1. To break a rule, 2. To reach across the table for food (a reference to the rules of Chinese chess)
45 事急馬行田: (In a crisis, a horse can move in the field) To be flexible, to adapt to circumstances in an emergency.
46 過橋抽板: (To pull up the planks after crossing the bridge) To betray one’s friends once the crisis is over, to abandon one’s friends once one is safe
47 和尚擔遮（無法(髮)無天）: (A monk holding an umbrella – 無髮無天 “no hair no sky” , which sounds like 無法無天 “no law no heaven”) No respect for law and order; unruly
48 牛唔飲水唔撳得牛頭低(If a cow doesn’t want to drink, you can’t force its head down) If someone is unwilling to do something, it is not possible to force them; you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
49 冇鞋挽屐走: (When there are no shoes, grab the clogs and run) To withdraw hurriedly from an awkward situation
50 馬死落地行: (when one’s horse dies, one has to walk) To rely on oneself, to have to get oneself through a difficulty without help.
51 捉到鹿唔識脫角: (Got hold of the deer but can’t get the horn) To be unable to make best use of an opportunity.
52 一竹篙打一船人: (Hitting everyone on a boat with a punt pole) To overgeneralise in assigning blame, e.g. to blame a whole group of people for one person’s mistake. Get tarred with the same brush
53 缸瓦船打老虎（盡地一煲）: (Hitting a tiger inside a boat full of potteries) To risk everything on one bet; to gamble everything on one plan
54 船頭尺（度水）: (Plumb line on a ship) Someone who is always asking others for money (since 度水 dohk séui can mean either “to borrow money” or “to measure water”).
55 黑狗偷食 白狗當災: (The black dog gets the food, the white dog gets the punishment) Somebody benefits by their wrongdoing, while another person gets the blame.
56 豬籠入水（八面亨通）: (Water enters a pig basket) To have many different ways to make money, to have money coming from many different enterprises or sources.
57 濕水炮仗: (A damp firecracker)1. Useless, 2. Someone with a calm temperament, who doesn’t lose their temper
58 菠蘿雞（一味靠黐）: (Pineapple chicken) Someone who takes advantage of other people; an exploiter
59 單眼佬睇老婆（一眼睇晒）: (One-eyed man looks at his wife) Too few/simple/obvious that one can see/understand everything in a “second”.
60 狗仔抬轎（不識抬舉）: (Puppies lifting /carrying a sedan chair – 不識抬舉 not knowing how to lift/carry things) Fail to appreciate others’ favours / flattering
61 畫隻耳上牆（當你耳邊風）: (Draw an ear on the wall) Words treated as unimportant, advice that is ignored
62 摸門釘: (To scrape the door nails) To go to visit someone but not find them at home, to arrange a meeting with someone but not to find them.
63 狗咬狗骨: (A dog bites another dog’s bones) Fighting among members of the same group
64 死雞撐飯蓋: (Using a dead chicken to push back the cooking-pot lid) To fight to the bitter end, to refuse to admit one is in the wrong
65 炒魷魚: (To stir-fry squid) To dismiss an employee
66 劏白鶴（湯白喝）: (To slaughter a white crane) To vomit, to throw up
67 風扇底傾偈（講風涼話）: (Talking under a fan – 風涼話 a chilling talk ) Saying something rude upon others’ mistakes or misfortune, inconsiderate to others’ feeling
68 風吹雞蛋殼（財散人安樂）: (Wind breaks an eggshell) Don’t worry about losing money. Be at ease with less fortune.
69 打蛇隨棍上: (To hit a snake and it crawls up the stick) To exploit a situation to one’s advantage, to ask for something or something extra by seizing a particular opportunity.
70 禾稈冚珍珠: (Rice stalks covering pearls) To pretend to be poor, to hide one’s true wealth (e.g. residents of public housing estates who are too wealthy to qualify for public housing)
71 雞食放光蟲（心知肚明）: (A chicken eats fireflies) To know in one’s heart, to fully understand, to not need to think further (As the chicken eats fireflies, its belly lights up)
72 冇掩雞籠（自出自入）: (A doorless chicken coop) A place where you can come and go as you wish.
73 籠裏雞作反: (The chickens are fighting inside the coop) Dissent withing an organisation, an internal rift, factional fighting; infighting
74 一雞死一雞鳴: (One chicken dies, one chicken crows) When one person leaves a business or an occupation, another will take it up.
75 老鼠拉龜（冇掟埋手）: (A mouse pulls a turtle) At one’s wits’ end
76 扯貓尾(To pull a cat’s tail) Two people supporting each other’s stories in order to avoid a problem; to lie one’s way out of a problem.
77 捉黃腳雞: (To catch a yellow-legged chicken) To catch someone having illicit sex; to arrange a trap or “set up” in which someone is blackmailed after being lured into having sex, to set a “honey trap”.
78 貼錯門神: (To paste up the door gods wrongly) To become hostile, to turn aggressive and nasty (since the door gods are normally pasted up so that they face each other, put if put up wrongly they face away from each other).
79 龜過門檻（唔上唔落）: (A tortoise passing a sill, implying someone who can’t get on or get off) Unable to solve a problem or escape from it. A stalemate.
80 騎牛揾馬: (To ride an ox looking for a horse) To be working one job but looking out for a better one
81 執死雞: (To pick up a dead chicken)1. To take something which someone else has lost or thrown away, 2. To take advantage of a situation, 3. To start off a relationship with someone who has been rejected by their former lover, 4. To get the benefit of someone else’s hard work, 5. To score an easy goal after a shot has been blocked by the goal keeper.

我認為透過圖片說話，指出香港地道的諺語很有趣，亦令人很容易記得。原本我也不太認識及了解香港諺語，但通過這幅圖片，我對香港諺語有了更深的了解。

http://www.passiontimes.hk/article/02-24-2014/8899
http://writecantonese8.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/cantonese-proverbs-in-one-picture/