Peasant Magic

March 14, 2015 8:39 PM

During the final battle in Big Trouble in Little China, one of the Storms is killed, and the lightning Storm enables the escape of another. When the lightning Storm flies away, Egg Shen says something in Chinese; a curse perhaps. What does Egg Shen say?
posted by Brocktoon to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

I think you mean the moment at 1:24:20 here. Lo Pan, Thunder, and Miao Yin leave the wedding hall on the escalator through the big fangy neon skull, Lightning closes that exit, Wang kills Rain, Lightning leaves on a pole of lightning, and Egg Shen says something.
posted by stebulus at 8:17 AM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Heh. I don't speak the language at all, but a friend in college told me that this line translated as "I'll kick your head off."

Waiting eagerly to see if that's true.
posted by 256 at 12:40 PM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: "I'll kick your head off."

I do think I hear ni, possibly 你 (= you), and tau, possibly 頭 (= head), so that seems plausible. I have no ear for tones, though, so my guess is not worth much.
posted by stebulus at 4:27 PM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: it's Cantonese, not Mandarin.

Phonetically

wo-yu-zhan-lei-go-tau!

Translation: I'll cut your head off!

It's not kick. Kick in Cantonese is "tea-ek" and it would be non-sense in Cantonese. It's be "I'll kick your head so it explodes" (wo-yu-tea-ek-bao-lei-go-tau!)
posted by kschang at 11:44 PM on March 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Seconding 99% of the Chinese in Big Trouble being Cantonese.
posted by lumensimus at 2:09 AM on March 16, 2015