“wah lau yeh”… 听过吧？
希望身为我朋友的你，未曾说过这句话！
如果被我听到你在孩子面前讲，我会骂！
最近在教会也会时不时听到这难听的所谓“口头弹”、
甚至出之执事的口...
我不以为意，因为这些“大人”对自己的言行负责！
但是，当这种粗口出之小孩子口时、我就不得不紧张了！
前个主日星期，儿童诗班某个男孩口中出来，
被我很严谨的责备了！
然后上主日，又从儿童诗班另外一个女孩的口中出来！
小女孩！！我的反应很大一下，赶紧训了她一顿！
我知道很多人根本不知道这句话的意思，
我也不好意思告诉他们，
自己看吧！
虽然有人坚持这句话非粗口，
我却认为，只要有可能是粗口就不好用了。
而且，这句话，就算不是粗口，听起来还是很粗鲁的！
难听极了，出之女孩的口更是“成何体统”!
所以希望各位大人别把坏习惯“cheh”到孩子身上！
wa lau /uuah (wah) low, ʊɑ (wɑ) laʊ/ int. [Hk., or Teo. 我 ua2 oneself, own, self (Chaozhou Dict.); Mand. wǒ I, my, me; self (Comp. Chi.–Eng. Dict.) + Hk. & Teo. lau, a meaningless word that is a euphemism for lan penis (see Wa Lan); or poss. Teo. 老 lao2 opp. of young or under age; relating to the two generations above oneself; compare 老公 lao2 gong1 great-grandfather; (in general) ancestor, forbear..., forefather (gong1 (dial.) grandfather; a term of address for old men) (Chaozhou Dict.); Mand. lǎo old, aged; old people; (slang) father; husband (Chi.–Eng. Dict.): see December 2002 quot. below]
[1995 Tan Kim Hock The Straits Times, 3 May, 30 [D]o not propagate the use of wah lau! It is a vulgar expletive! .. Wah lau does not mean “My old one” or “my father” as Ms Sharon Lim said in a review on the Clement Chow and Geoff Tan album entitled “Wah lau! Cannot like dat one meh?” in July 1992. .. Ask any true-blue Hokkien or Teochew speaker, and he will tell you the origin of wah lau is an expletive. It was uttered only by the uncouth, crass and vulgar men, never by women, at least not in public. 2002 The Sunday Times 24 November, 26 The Singlish term “wah lau” has travelled beyond Singapore’s shores and this is something people should be proud of, says comedian and film director Jack Neo. The term is a Hokkien exclamation that can mean anything from “Oh my goodness!” to “Wow!” to “Damn!” 2002 Karl Ho The Sunday Times (Life!), 1 December. Is wah lau vulgar or harmless? [title] Mr Kua Soon Khe, 50, the executive secretary of the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan clan association, says that such a crude phrase should not be highlighted because it reinforces the stigma that the Hokkien language is profane and unrefined. Wah lau, Mr Kua adds, is commonly believed to be derived from the cruder wah lan, which can be translated loosely as ‘oh, my penis’. Mr Lim Guan Hock, 56, a board member of the Hokkien Huay Kuan, says that wah lau evolved when wah lan was pronounced slightly differently. It has the same effect as ‘oh, my goodness’. But, depending on the intonation and usage, wah lau, eh can roughly mean ‘my old man’ or ‘my husband’. But Mr Lim says that wah lau does not really mean anything. Dr Phua Kok Khoo, 60, vice-president of the Singapore Teochew Poit It Huay Kuan clan association, thinks there is nothing wrong with wah lau. He says: ‘The Teochew- and Hokkien-speaking Chinese use it as an informal and casual utterance of surprise.’ Dr Phua, who also teaches at the National University of Singapore’s science faculty, adds: ‘It is nothing rude, and is definitely a common phrase used in daily Singaporean life.’ Wah lau is widely believed to have originated in Singapore. Some Chinese nationals, however, tell Sunday Life! that the phrase is also heard in the southern part of Fujian province in China, where Hokkien is the main dialect. Mr Yang Bin, 35, is a chemical engineer from Fuzhou City in Fujian province who moved to Singapore eight years ago. He says: ‘I have heard it before back in China, but it’s used more often here.’ He also feels there is nothing wrong with the term and that it is not lewd. According to Dr Phua, the term was first heard here only 15 to 20 years ago. It has since been adopted by the Singaporean heartlands, especially the younger generation, adds Mr Lim from the Hokkien association. He says: ‘Phrases like wah peh, which means ‘my father’ in Teochew, might be too traditional for youngsters; and wah lan might be too crude to be used in public. So, wah lau falls nicely in between these two.’]
Also wa lau eh, walao, walau, wah lau, wahlau. A mild exclamation expr. annoyance, disbelief, exasperation, frustration, surprise, etc.; my goodness!, oh dear!, oh, my god!, oh no!; or poss. a euphemism for Wa Lan.
1994 C.S. Chong NS: An Air-Level Story 51 If you can sing, wa lau, all the girls will come to you, boy! 67 Wah lau, eh! Me again! 140 wa lau. Exclamation for frustration or horror. 2000 Samuel Lee The Straits Times (Life!), 22 December, L12 Wah lau eh, so packed ah, and I thought this was a private party by invite only? 2002 Niamh O’Leary et. al. The Straits Times (Life!), 14 May, L2 Wah lau, this one same also! 2002 Lim Lye Choon The Straits Times, 28 November. Anyone fluent in Hokkien or Teochew will know that ‘wah lau’ translates into ‘my dad’, not much different from those who say ‘My God’ in English. To insist on there being a pun [on wa lan] is to conduct a linguistic witch hunt. 2002 Lim Yew Peng The Straits Times, 28 November. I am very angry with the writer who said the phrase ‘wah lau’ is a vulgar expletive uttered by uncouth, crass or foul-mouthed men! Tell him I utter these words very often to my friends, and even to my children. But I am not the sort of man he described. Anyway, ‘wah lau’ is not vulgar. .. ‘Wah’, as every Teochew or Hokkien will know, is a dialect word meaning ‘me’ or ‘I’. ‘Lau’ means ‘old’ or ‘old man’, if you refer to an old man. ‘Wah lau’ is merely an exclamation, the way English-speaking people use ‘Oh, my God’. You can hear ‘wah lau’ when people are surprised, or excited to explain something. 2003 Neil Humphreys Weekend Today, 22–23 November, 6 Wah lau, so troublesome. 2003 ‘Mr Brown’ (Lee Kin Mun) Today, 13 February, 34 My goodness! (I was going to say, Wah Lau Eh! But we have to be proper here.) 2004 Elisa Chia (quoting Jean Danker) Today, 16 June, 25 It’s like, wah lau! I practically grew up on radio and people saw me from the 16-year-old girl with short hair until now. 2004 Wong Kim Hoh The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 20 June, 38 Wah lau.. like that how can? 2007 Matthew Pereira (quoting Shaun Pereira) The Sunday Times (LifeStyle), 2 September, L12 Wahlau! But I earn so little.
