呃鬼食豆腐

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Chinese

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hiccough ghost; sly; crafty
eat; food; to feed
eat; food; to feed; animal feed
 
tofu; bean curd; any food with tofu-like physical quality
trad. (呃鬼食豆腐) 豆腐
simp. #(呃鬼食豆腐) 豆腐
Literally: “to trick ghosts to eat tofu”.

Etymology

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豆腐 (dau6 fu6) is possibly altered from 道符 (dou6 fu4, “talisman papers”).

Pronunciation

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Idiom

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呃鬼食豆腐

  1. (Cantonese) to lure someone into a trap, to trick someone
  2. (Cantonese) pull the other one, it's got bells on (used to show disbelief in something)
    人哋而家呃鬼食豆腐 [Cantonese, trad.]
    𫽋人哋而家𫽋呃鬼食豆腐 [Cantonese, simp.]
    ne1 tiu4 jau5 lo2 zo2 jan4 dei6 ge3 je5 jau6 m4 waan4, ji4 gaa1 keoi5 jau6 waa6 mou5 lo2 wo4, aak1 gwai2 sik6 dau6 fu6 me1! [Jyutping]
    That guy never returns anything he borrows, but now he's saying that he never took that. Pull the other one!