A language spoken a lot in the south of China as well as around the world (especially in Chinese takeaways). It's roughly as related to Mandarin Chinese as English is to German: A speaker of (only) Cantonese cannot readily understand a speaker of (only) Mandarin Chinese and vice versa. Cantonese is spoken and not written, just as Mandarin Chinese is: Cantonese speakers and Mandarin Chinese speakers write in Written Chinese. It just happens that Mandarin Chinese is closer to the written standard.
If you're from the US or the UK, when you think you hear "Chinese", it's likely Cantonese, especially if your knowledge of "Chinese" is limited to "chicken chow mein".
If you're from the US or the UK, when you think you hear "Chinese", it's likely Cantonese, especially if your knowledge of "Chinese" is limited to "chicken chow mein".
Mandarin: "Tian bu pa, di bu pa, zhi pa guangdong ren shuo putonghua."
Translation: 'I fear neither heaven nor earth, I only fear Cantonese speakers trying to speak Mandarin'.
Cantonese: "Tin mh geng, deih mh geng ji geng bak fong yahn gong gwong dung wah mh jehng".
Translation: 'I fear neither heaven nor earth, I only fear Mandarin speakers speaking Cantonese so inaccurately'.
(From chinese-lessons.com)
Translation: 'I fear neither heaven nor earth, I only fear Cantonese speakers trying to speak Mandarin'.
Cantonese: "Tin mh geng, deih mh geng ji geng bak fong yahn gong gwong dung wah mh jehng".
Translation: 'I fear neither heaven nor earth, I only fear Mandarin speakers speaking Cantonese so inaccurately'.
(From chinese-lessons.com)
by rent-a-linguist December 28, 2010
Get the Cantonese mug.The ability to forcefully, and often angrily, speak your mind while on the phone but not usually in person.
He's got one hell of a set of phone cajones. He was really giving it to the customer service rep on the phone but when he went down to the store, he totally fell apart.
by Kaptain1 June 10, 2007
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by Goat23535 September 27, 2005
Get the Al Caponed mug.Cantonese is one of the languages spoken in China. It is not a dialect of the invented "Chinese language". It is a language itself, such as Mandarin. The only difference is that Mandarin is the official one, and Cantonese is not.
Luca: Hi, Zeke! what've you been up to?
Ezekiel: Oh, I've been studying a lot for my exam tomorrow
Luca: exam of what?
Ezekiel: Oops, I forgot to tell you that I took up Cantonese, which is a language spoken in China. It is not the official one, though.
Ezekiel: Oh, I've been studying a lot for my exam tomorrow
Luca: exam of what?
Ezekiel: Oops, I forgot to tell you that I took up Cantonese, which is a language spoken in China. It is not the official one, though.
by Ezechiel August 16, 2006
Get the Cantonese mug.A misspelling of cojones.
by Vrede June 1, 2010
Get the cahones mug.To utterly and totally destroy the punchline of a joke so as to make it completely devoid of any sort of humerous value. Often, the act of CantonING (the verb form) is funny, because the person who catoned the joke often is not aware they have done so.
This term comes from the town of Canton in Central Illinois where people have a tendancy, due to life in such a provincial area, to miss high-brow humor and explain simple jokes with what they see as...jokes.
This term comes from the town of Canton in Central Illinois where people have a tendancy, due to life in such a provincial area, to miss high-brow humor and explain simple jokes with what they see as...jokes.
"He totally Cantoned that joke."
Example of Cantoning:
person "A": "This room smells like 15 kinds of ass."
person "B": "Yeah, almost like 20 kinds of ass!"
Example 2:
Person "A": "What's green and flies?"
Person "B": "Superpickle!"
*laughter ensues*
Canton person: "Yeah, hahaha, or super green bell pepper."
*everyone pauses and stares, looking awkwardly at one another*
Canton person: "Sorry, I work at Hy-Vee."
Example of Cantoning:
person "A": "This room smells like 15 kinds of ass."
person "B": "Yeah, almost like 20 kinds of ass!"
Example 2:
Person "A": "What's green and flies?"
Person "B": "Superpickle!"
*laughter ensues*
Canton person: "Yeah, hahaha, or super green bell pepper."
*everyone pauses and stares, looking awkwardly at one another*
Canton person: "Sorry, I work at Hy-Vee."
by Matthew & David Richard July 23, 2004
Get the Cantoning mug.A very common expression of joy when Chinese PUBG or CS:GO player got killed or misbehavior of their teammates.
*Got killed.
Chinese player: “Caonima!”
*Sees hacker.
Chinese player: “Caonima!”
Russian player: “Cyka blyat!”
Chinese player: “Caonima!”
American player: “Trump 2020!.”
Chinese player: “Caonima.”
Chinese player: “Caonima!”
*Sees hacker.
Chinese player: “Caonima!”
Russian player: “Cyka blyat!”
Chinese player: “Caonima!”
American player: “Trump 2020!.”
Chinese player: “Caonima.”
by FreedomDoge November 10, 2019
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