Local lingo
  • Vote Up0Vote Down amytanelamytanel February 2009
    Posts: 3
    Does anyone know the origin of this term "chin chye" which we all use in place of "anything is fine" or "whatver you decide is ok" or when we say some is an easy-going person (a "chin chye" person)?  Does this term have any peranakan origin?
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  • Vote Up0Vote Down hockyhocky February 2009
    Posts: 264
    Very good question! Anybody with the good answers? For me....chin means very and..... chye means vegetables, so wahahahaha chin chye means being very vegetable or very simple, easy, ok lah, can do lah, no problems, just my piece of laughter medicine? Don't fire back at me as I am not serious, just joking, chin chye ok?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down hockyhocky February 2009
    Posts: 264
    chin chye means no special preference? Anything oso can? No problems? Chin chye person means a very flexible person, not a hardhead who only wants his/her own way? Its Hokkien lor?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down hockyhocky March 2009
    Posts: 264
    What about chin chye boh chye? Very plain, nobody cares attitude or way of dressing? ???
  • Vote Up0Vote Down amytanelamytanel March 2009
    Posts: 3
    It appears no one knows the origin of this term.  :-[ I was talking with an Asian friend (a Hokkien) who mentioned that when this is one of the many local terms she did not quite understand at first.  In Mandarin, the correct term is "sui bian", in Hokkien it is also "sui bian" but pronounced differently and in Cantonese it is "choi pin".  So, how did this term come about?  Anyone knows?
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