up what spring

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English

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Etymology

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Partial calque of Cantonese 乜春 (ngap1 mat1 ceon1, what the hell are you babbling about, literally what testicles are you babbling about), where (ceon1) is a homograph meaning both testicles and spring (season). By surface analysis, Cantonese up +‎ what +‎ spring.

Phrase

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up what spring

  1. (Hong Kong, colloquial, slightly vulgar) What the hell are you saying?
    • 2017, 港語日報 [KONGISH DAILY] (overall work in Cantonese), →ISBN:
      相反,好諷刺地,一句Grammar全對嘅句子,有時反而唔知佢Up what spring,例如日文偽文青廢Up系列:「在非洲,每隔一分鐘,就有六十秒過去⋯⋯」

Synonyms

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