Tang Pidgin Insults

"Sometimes when you're really angry, it's time to let loose a barrage of rude things out."

— Disgruntled citizen in Luoyang.

Writing System

Written in the Latin alphabet.

Geographical Distribution

In the Tang Colony States.

Vocabulary

Tang pidgin insults are usually literally translated Chinese phrases that require cultural context to get. The insults generally don't vary much because the national culture is similar in regards to language.
Anglicized and European phrases sometimes get co-opted back into Tang pidgin.

Root Languages

• Hokkien

Common Phrases

To have no gall bladder

Be very cowardly. Gallbladders are considered the Chinese seat of courage, in contrast with the European seats of heart and stomach.

A foxy loxy spirit

An overly horny woman. / A sexy woman, especially one who keeps changing suitors. Etymologically derives from the English phrase "foxy loxy" and the Chinese huli jing

Fox-faced

Someone with large eyes, sharp nose, sharp chin, and small mouth, thus looking like a fox. Especially insulting for women because at some point, Tang settlers began to see fox spirits as bad omens instead of their previous ambivalence.

By my brother's word!

An expression of surprise.

Black like thunder

To look very angry. Also a crude description for Africans.

And I'm your uncle.

A phrase that asserts the speaker's seniority, can be taken either insultingly or as a joke with context.

Ta pen tan (Big stupid egg)

A stupid person.

Wearing green hats.

The person's spouse is cheating on them.

What'cha looking at, jackass?!

Rude greeting in place of the standard hello.

Your momma stinks!

Insulting someone's family is unkind in Sinosphere culture.

Chi mantou (To eat buns)

A perverted man.

Taiping gongzhu (Lady of Peace)

When spelled a certain way, it reads as "Very flat-chested."

Beating your horseback

An insincere flatterer.

Wang ba (Like the Eighth King)

A dishonest person, it refers to a layabout surnamed Wang. A severe insult because the other spelling refers to tortoises and couples cheating on each other.

Get your nine lines exsanguinated.

To be utterly destroyed. Exsanguinating nine lines refers to the act of condemning a criminal's friends and family along with the accused.