<p>My mother-tongue is Cantonese. As far as I understand, this is not anything in Cantonese (at least modern Cantonese). Although some of the words sound like Cantonese, for example “Lock shat” sounds like 落實 (lok6 sat9), I can’t think of any meaningful content when they are put together with the words after that.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-16T05:38:06.137Z
2018-02-16T13:02:52.697Z
2018-02-16T13:02:52.697Z
user2528260
<p>It's definitely Cantonese since 'yet gee sam see baa gow' sounds exactly like 'one two three four eight nine' in Cantonese, and 'tak ti-wak' sounds like 'make a phone call'.</p>

<p>I don't speak Cantonese, so I cannot give more information on this.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-18T12:41:12.907Z
Not sure about phones in China in 1900.
Philipp
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-18T11:18:04.203Z
2017-09-18T11:18:04.203Z
alvisjiang
<p>The book <em>The Chinese Typewriter</em> by Thomas Mullaney has the following Cartoon from the San Francisco Examiner (1900)</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/sadMD.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/sadMD.jpg" alt="8888"></a></p>

<p>and explanation:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The first mass-produced Chinese typewriter was a figment of popular imagination. It was first sighted in January 1900, when the San Francisco Examiner spread word of a strange new contraption housed in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, in the back room of a newspaper office on Dupont Street. The machine boasted a twelve-foot keyboard complete with 5,000 keys. “Two rooms knocked into one apartment afford shelter for this remarkable contrivance,” the author explained, describing a machine so large that the “typist” was something akin to a general commanding forces over a vast terrain (figure 1.1). The piece was accompanied by a cartoon in which the caricatured inventor sat atop a stool and shouted Cantonese-esque gibberish at “four muscular key-thumpers through a large tin megaphone.” Lock shat hoo-la ma sho gong um hom tak ti-wak yet gee sam see baa gow!!</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I realize he calls it gibberish but does Lock shat hoo-la ma sho gong um hom tak ti-wak yet gee sam see baa gow!! Actually mean anything?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-14T12:28:07.557Z
It's meaningless from the Chinese perspective.
dan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-09-15T10:30:07.490Z
pronunications are prosibly changed since that age, and pronuncications given a non-Chinese speakers (he haven't studied Chinese)  are possibly inexact, it is hard to guess what he said.
Daniel Yang
<meaning>
Does “Lock shat hoo-la ma sho gong um hom tak ti-wak yet gee sam see baa gow!!” mean anything?
# Does “Lock shat hoo-la ma sho gong um hom tak ti-wak yet gee sam see baa gow!!” mean anything?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-09-14)

The book *The Chinese Typewriter* by Thomas Mullaney has the following Cartoon from the San Francisco Examiner (1900)

[![8888](https://i.sstatic.net/sadMD.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/sadMD.jpg)

and explanation:

> The first mass-produced Chinese typewriter was a figment of popular imagination. It was first sighted in January 1900, when the San Francisco Examiner spread word of a strange new contraption housed in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, in the back room of a newspaper office on Dupont Street. The machine boasted a twelve-foot keyboard complete with 5,000 keys. “Two rooms knocked into one apartment afford shelter for this remarkable contrivance,” the author explained, describing a machine so large that the “typist” was something akin to a general commanding forces over a vast terrain (figure 1.1). The piece was accompanied by a cartoon in which the caricatured inventor sat atop a stool and shouted Cantonese-esque gibberish at “four muscular key-thumpers through a large tin megaphone.” Lock shat hoo-la ma sho gong um hom tak ti-wak yet gee sam see baa gow!!

I realize he calls it gibberish but does Lock shat hoo-la ma sho gong um hom tak ti-wak yet gee sam see baa gow!! Actually mean anything?

**Tags:** meaning
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It's meaningless from the Chinese perspective.  
> **username_2**: pronunications are prosibly changed since that age, and pronuncications given a non-Chinese speakers (he haven't studied Chinese)  are possibly inexact, it is hard to guess what he said.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-02-16. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

My mother-tongue is Cantonese. As far as I understand, this is not anything in Cantonese (at least modern Cantonese). Although some of the words sound like Cantonese, for example “Lock shat” sounds like 落實 (lok6 sat9), I can’t think of any meaningful content when they are put together with the words after that.


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### Answer by username_4 on 2017-09-18. Score: 0

It's definitely Cantonese since 'yet gee sam see baa gow' sounds exactly like 'one two three four eight nine' in Cantonese, and 'tak ti-wak' sounds like 'make a phone call'.

I don't speak Cantonese, so I cannot give more information on this.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Not sure about phones in China in 1900.  

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