Chun Hung - a poster that puts a price on someone's head
Dang dang - Wait!
Digging into your Levis - searching for cash
Din Gau 癲狗 - Rabid Dog
Dressed for death - dressed in one's best
Faan tung 飯桶 - rice bucket or worthless
Fahn Quai - White Devil
Fan Kwei - Foreign Devil
Graft - practices, especially bribery, used to secure illicit gains in politics or business; corruption.
Hei Lok Lau - House of Joy - traditional name for brothels at that time
Hei san la nei, chap chung! 起身呀你個雜種！- Wake up, you bastard!
Highbinders - general term for criminals
Kedging - to warp or pull (a ship) along by hauling on the cable of an anchor that has been carried out a ways from the ship and dropped.
King chak - the police
Lo Mo - foster mother
Mien tzu - a severe loss of face
Mui Tsai - little Chinese girls who were sold into domestic households. They were often burdened with heavy labor and endured severe physical punishments.
Nei tai - you, look
Ngor bon nei - I help you
No sabe - Spanish for 'doesn't know' or 'I don't understand'. I came across a historical reference to a Chinese man using this phrase in a newspaper article. I don't know if it was common, but it is a simple, easy to say phrase that English speakers understood.
Pak Siu Lui - White Little Bud
Sau pan po - 'Long-life Boards' - coffin Shop
Si Fu - the Master
Siu wai daan 小壞蛋 - Little Rotten Eggs - an insult that implies one was hatched rather than born, and therefore has no mother. The inclusion of 'little' in the insult softens it slightly.
Slungshot - a maritime tool consisting of a weight or "shot" affixed to the end of a long cord, often by being wound into the center of a knot called a "monkey's fist." It is used to cast a line from one location to another, often a mooring line. This was also a popular makeshift (and deadly) weapon in the Barbary Coast.
Sock Nika Tow - Chop Your Head Off - a very bad insult
Wai Daan 壞蛋 - Rotten Egg
Wai Yan 壞男人 - Bad Men
Wu Lei Ching 狐狸精 - Fox Spirit
Wun Dan - Cracked Egg
Wun… ah Mei - Find Mei
Yiu! 妖! - a slightly less offensive version of the English 'F-word'.
The Devil's Teeth (Ravenwood Mysteries #5) Page 27
