一時唔偷雞做保長

Chinese

	for a time; once	not	to steal chickens; to do something sneakily and unnoticeably for one's own benefit or convenience	to be; to act as	leader of a bao in the baojia system
trad. (一時唔偷雞做保長/一時唔偷鷄做保長)	一時	唔	偷雞/偷鷄	做	保長
simp. (一时唔偷鸡做保长)	一时	唔	偷鸡	做	保长
Literally: “to act as the leader of the bao the one time they do not steal chickens”.

Alternative forms

一時唔偷雞就做保長 / 一时唔偷鸡就做保长

Pronunciation

Cantonese (Jyutping): jat¹ si⁴ m⁴ tau¹ gai¹ zou⁶ bou² zoeng²

Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: jat¹ si⁴ m⁴ tau¹ gai¹ zou⁶ bou² zoeng²
  - Yale: yāt sìh m̀h tāu gāi jouh bóu jéung
  - Cantonese Pinyin: jat⁷ si⁴ m⁴ tau¹ gai¹ dzou⁶ bou² dzoeng²
  - Guangdong Romanization: yed¹ xi⁴ m⁴ teo¹ gei¹ zou⁶ bou² zêng²
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /jɐt̚⁵ siː²¹ m̩²¹ tʰɐu̯⁵⁵ kɐi̯⁵⁵ t͡sou̯²² pou̯³⁵ t͡sœːŋ³⁵/

Phrase

一時唔偷雞做保長

(Cantonese) someone who has a reputation of doing bad hypocritically accuses someone else of committing a fault
- 2007, 石凱婷 [Hoi Ting Shek], 《溏心風暴》 [Heart of Greed]‎^[1], episode 9, spoken by 凌莉 [Ling Lei] (米雪 [Michelle Yim]):
  
  係咪噉同姐夫講嘢啊？你管下你自己啦，一時唔偷雞做保長。 [Cantonese, trad.]
  系咪噉同姐夫讲嘢啊？你管下你自己啦，一时唔偷鸡做保长。 [Cantonese, simp.]
  hai⁶ mai⁶ gam² tung⁴ ze² fu¹ gong² je⁵ aa³? nei⁵ gun² haa⁵ nei⁵ zi⁶ gei² laa¹, jat¹ si⁴ m⁴ tau¹ gai¹ zou⁶ bou² zoeng². [Jyutping]
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 2019, 梁柏堅 [Leung Pak-kin], 《時勢好惡，做基督徒好難》 [Sing XXXX to the Lord], Hong Kong: Breakthrough Ltd., →ISBN, page 116:
  
  上帝面前，我們都是罪人，沒有比誰更高尚。即使我們義正嚴詞，也只是「一時唔偷雞做保長」，忘記我們沒多久之前才又叫過聖靈擔憂。 [Literary Cantonese, trad.]
  上帝面前，我们都是罪人，没有比谁更高尚。即使我们义正严词，也只是「一时唔偷鸡做保长」，忘记我们没多久之前才又叫过圣灵担忧。 [Literary Cantonese, simp.]
  soeng⁶ dai³ min⁶ cin⁴, ngo⁵ mun⁴ dou¹ si⁶ zeoi⁶ jan⁴, mut⁶ jau⁵ bei² seoi⁴ gang³ gou¹ soeng⁶. zik¹ si² ngo⁵ mun⁴ ji⁶ zing³ jim⁴ ci⁴, jaa⁵ zi² si⁶ “jat¹ si⁴ m⁴ tau¹ gai¹ zou⁶ bou² zoeng²”, mong⁴ gei³ ngo⁵ mun⁴ mut⁶ do¹ gau² zi¹ cin⁴ coi⁴ jau⁶ giu³ gwo³ sing³ ling⁴ daam¹ jau¹. [Jyutping]
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)