Mahjong slang

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Mahjong slangs are jargons that originated from Mahjong terminology that are used in everyday life. The slang is used colloquially in some Chinese-speaking areas, showing the high popularity of Mahjong in these regions. But as Mahjong is often used as a gambling game, Mahjong slang words are often regarded a kind of as casual way of speaking.

Some common Mahjong slang in popular in HK:

• 四萬咁口 - this is used to describe a person smiling very happily. It literally means "the mouth is like the four wan tile". (Some people suggest that the origin is that the person really smiles so happily that his mouth does look like the Chinese character for 'four'.)
• 叫和 - this means something is about to finish or happen with a favorable result. It is used, for example, to describe the favorable player or team at match point. Literally, in Mahjong, it describes the player has a "ready hand". He has the chance to win the round once a favorable tile comes up. In contrast, in an "unready hand", more than one favorable tile has to appear in order to make the hand a winning one.
• 食詐和 - this means that a person thinks he has had a lucky encounter, but then it turns out it was only a mistake. A classic example is that of a wife vomiting and then thinking she is pregnant, and her family then celebrating. However, after seeing a doctor, it turns out to be a mild sickness in the intestine. The literal meaning in a Mahjong game is that the player mistakenly believes that he has won the round and announces this, only to find he made a mistake and thus becomes a loser. Note that the final outcome has to be something minor and not a great misfortunate. For example, if the wife turns out to have stomach cancer, the term is not used.
• 俾隻好牌你上 - literally meaning "giving you a good tile to chow," it means somebody setting up another person up for something positive. For example, setting one's friend for an ideal date or job.
• 食雞和 - this means that a player has won the game, but with a hand that has no sets of three from the same suit, or having no combinations which give points etc. The player usually wins no or not much money.
• 小相公 - any case when a player's total number of tiles are fewer than the required.

Some simple translations from some Hong Kong players:- PKT.

雞和--chicken hand -- 食雞和;

平和--common hand;

門清--all concealed hand;

槓上花--added glory to a gong;

對對和--all triplets;

混一色--mixed one suit;

小三元--junior 3 chiefs;

海底撈月--catching the moon from the bottom of the sea (a salvage job);

大三元--grand 3 chiefs;

小四喜--junior 4 happiness;

清一色--pure one suite;

大四喜--grand 4 happiness;

字一色--all honor tiles;

十三么--13 terminal tiles;

天和--heavenly hand;

地和--earthly hand;

銅子--the copper/circle suite/tiles;

索子--the string/bamboo suite/tiles;

萬子--the 10,000/character suite/tiles;

番子--the honour suite/tiles;

花牌--flower suites/tiles;

食詐和--falsely declaring a win;

大/小相公--long or short hand -- player forgot to draw his/her hand;

自摸--self-drawn win;

搶槓--robbing a gong;

上/黐--claiming a tile to match a sequence;

碰--claiming a tile to match a triplet;

槓--claiming a tile for a quadruplet;

和--claiming a tile to win;

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