Tua33 Phau3 (Big Fire-Cracker)

Tua33 Phau3 is a Penang Hokkien rhyme often recited by scouts in Penang. It literally means big fire cracker, but is also slang to mean a person who talks big or boasts. The rhyme below can be taken at face value, to mean that various fire crackers make different noise, but can also mean that when a big boaster and a smaller boaster meet, the result is a barrage of boasting. Tua33 phau3 phong3!
Se1 phau3 phiang3!
Tua33 phau3 se1 phau33 phing3 phong3 phiang3!

Big fire-cracker goes, "Phong!"
Small fire-cracker goes, "Phiang!"
Big and small fire-crackers go, "Phing Phong Phiang!"

Vocabulary

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Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.

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