和尚划船——無法度

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Chinese

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to row; rowing to no avail
trad. (和尚划船——無法度) 和尚 划船 —— 無法度
simp. (和尚划船——无法度) 和尚 划船 —— 无法度
Literally: “A Buddhist monk rows a boat - a man with no hair sailing across (to no avail)”.

Etymology

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A monk is bald, i.e. he has no hair ( (bô hoat)). Therefore, the second part of the phrase is . (hoat) has the same pronunciation as (hoat) and (tō͘, “sailing across the sea or river”) has the same pronunciation as (tō͘)

Pronunciation

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  • Southern Min
    • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
      • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hôe-siūⁿ kò-chûn, bô-hoat-tō͘
      • Tâi-lô: huê-siūnn kò-tsûn, bô-huat-tōo
      • IPA (Kaohsiung): /hue²³⁻³³ siũ³³⁻²¹ kɤ²¹⁻⁴¹ t͡sun²³ bɤ²³⁻³³ huat̚³²⁻⁴ tɔ³³/
      • IPA (Taipei): /hue²⁴⁻¹¹ siũ³³⁻¹¹ ko¹¹⁻⁵³ t͡sun²⁴ bo²⁴⁻¹¹ huat̚³²⁻⁴ tɔ³³/

Idiom

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和尚划船——無法度

  1. (Hokkien, xiehouyu) to no avail