# Translating a Chinese Curse
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 16, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478 "2003-02-16T19:05:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2003, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/1 "2003-02-16T19:05:00Z")
I’m rereading my James Clavell, and in at least two of the books there is a Cantonese curse that supposedly is the Worst of the Worst, enough to make the listeners turn white or faint.
It’s _Dew neh loh moh_.
Can anyone translate, and what does it mean? I apologize for offending anyone…I’m just curious.
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### Author:  [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/2 "2003-02-16T19:41:58Z")
I don’t know the context of Clavell’s usage, but sites in [this search](http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22Dew+neh+loh+moh%22) seem to equate the phrase with “Shit!”, as a WAG.
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/3 "2003-02-16T19:54:33Z")
He also uses _baka_ in the book, which I took to mean “shit.” The other one seems to be incredibly offensive, almost personal. Maybe Clavell was playing up the word usage for dramatic effect.
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### Author:  [@chrisn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisn)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/4 "2003-02-16T20:11:21Z")
“Baka” is Japanese for “fool.” Doesn’t sound that bad to our ears, but, for the Japanese, it’s a baaaad word. In regards to the other curse, I don’t speak Cantonese but that seems like an awful lot of syllables for “shit.” Perhaps it includes advice on what to with said shit?
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### Author:  [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/5 "2003-02-16T20:11:52Z")
\
Baka is “idiot” in japanese.
\
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/6 "2003-02-16T20:28:14Z")
Well, the book is set in 1860s Japan, with Chinese servants serving the _gai-jin_ (hence the name of the book) so I apologize for confusing Japanese with Cantonese phrases.
Clavell has done a wonderful job depicting life in Japan and China, and I’m getting ready to reread _Noble House_, where _dew neh loh moh_ is used quite often to devasting effects. I don’t think it’s made up.
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### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2003, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/7 "2003-02-16T21:15:17Z")
**Ivylass** , I have e-mailed your question to my brother; his wife is native Chinese. Perhaps they can answer it. 🆒
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/8 "2003-02-16T21:33:20Z")
fuck your mother
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### Author:  [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/9 "2003-02-16T23:39:33Z")
Interestingly enough (or not?) a google groups search shows it being used in enlish often with “on you” after, which would support the translation of shit.
[http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q="dew+neh+loh+moh"&sa=N&tab=ig](http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=%22dew+neh+loh+moh%22&sa=N&tab=ig)
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/10 "2003-02-17T00:10:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by sailor \*
> \*\*fuck your mother \*\*
And what do you base this assumption on?
Thanks, **NinetyWt**. I hope your SIL doesn’t slap your brother for asking the question. 😉
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/11 "2003-02-17T00:25:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ivylass \*
> And what do you base this assumption on?
The assumption is that my Cantonese girlfriend is not lying to me. That’s what she said when I asked her. Or do you think what she said might have been directed at me personally? Do you think she might have found out about that fling I had? I hope not. 😉
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/12 "2003-02-17T00:29:31Z")
I hope that’s a minimum of 70% post-consumer electrons, **sailor**
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### Author:  [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/13 "2003-02-17T00:31:43Z")
Sorry, **Ivylass** , he wasn’t much help:
> [@](#):
>
> Don’t know cantonese.
>
> But now, there are several bad bad cussing things you can
> say, and then there are bad luck stuffs you can say. . .
Sounds like this is one of the bad bad cussing things (re: **sailor** )
BTW I read that and at first I thought HUH ??? why’s he cussing?? then I realized he was answering the question :smack: duh me
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### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/14 "2003-02-17T00:42:28Z")
Well, then, is it a command, as in Go F— Your Mother, or is it just a general F— You, except instead of “you,” it’s a relative?
**Sailor** , thank your girlfriend for me. Now I need to know why it’s considered so horrifying. (At least in the Clavell books.)
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### Author:  [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/15 "2003-02-17T05:29:29Z")
My ex girlfriend, who’s parents were immigrants from Hong Kong and a friend who served a mormon mission to Hong Kong both told me that it translates literally to “fuck your old woman”, which is the same as “fuck your mother”.
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### Author:  [@sinemora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinemora)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/16 "2003-02-17T05:59:50Z")
I am Cantonese myself, and yes the phrase does indeed mean “fuck your mother”. Nowadays, its “level of badness” is roughly similar to “fuck you” in English and it is used in exactly the same context. There are always more ways to curse in Cantonese 🙂
dew - fuck
neh - you/your
loh moh - An informal/disrespectful/insulting word that means mother. Depending on the context, it can be considered a mild profanity. Can’t think of an equivalent English word that has the same meaning.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/17 "2003-02-17T11:42:34Z")
fuck your old mother literally. It’s pretty common in Hong Kong - they swear a lot. Not polite but in many circles it’s a pretty common expression and do hear it probably a hundred times a day in HK. There are much worse expressions in Cantonese
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/18 "2003-02-17T11:50:00Z")
Now try _Diw ley lo mo chao hai!_
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/19 "2003-02-17T14:31:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by jjimm \*
> \*\*Now try _Diw ley lo mo chao hai!_ \*\*
Now let’s not get nasty, diw lo sup ba zhou zhong
(Christ, i don’t know how to romanize cantonese, anyoo, something to do with fuck you backwards in time for 18 generations :o )
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translating-a-chinese-curse/155478/20 "2003-02-17T14:47:25Z")
_Pok gai_, your Cantonese transliteration is indeed _gau lun si_.
Mind you, so’s mine, as I can’t do tones.
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