# 我是等著来攞命了



## Xiaoma

Hello,

What is the meaning of the final sentence? Is "攞命" somebody's name?

“死啰！死啰！” 赛梨坐在椅子上一颠一颠，齐眉的卷发也跟著一蹦一跳，缚著最新型的金色阔条纹塑胶束发带，身穿淡粉红薄呢旗袍，上面印著天蓝色小狗与降落伞。她个子并不小，胸部很发达，但是稚气可掬。
“今天死定了！依丽莎白你怎么样？*我是等著来攞命了！*”

(张爱玲《小团圆》)

谢谢！


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## viajero_canjeado

"I'm waiting for sweet destiny to come"?

命 sometimes has that meaning, like in 命運.


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## Xiaoma

viajero_canjeado said:


> "I'm waiting for sweet destiny to come"?
> 
> 命 sometimes has that meaning, like in 命運.



So does it mean that she's hoping that everything will be OK?


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## viajero_canjeado

Sorry, Xiaoma, but I'm afraid not. It seems like that woman is on the verge of dying and there's no hope for her recovery.


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## JJchang

It's actually a mixture of a Cantonese term in a normal sentence. 攞命 means "taking life", i.e. die. The translation of that sentence is "I'm waiting (for the death) to take my life!". It's a awkward sentence even in Cantonese. The author 張愛玲 in this novel wants to make her characters more colourful and make them speak in dialect sometimes, but in this instance it doesn't sound right in Cantonese and it definitely is very strange in Mandarin.


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## JJchang

That saying is like "I'm dying here!", it doesn't necessarily mean she's physically ill or is literally going to die.


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## Xiaoma

Thank you viajero_canjeado and JJchang!

This is their 大考的早晨 so it make sense to me - she is terrified.


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## Ghabi

Are you sure that's what she writes? Do you have the book before you?


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## Xiaoma

Ghabi said:


> Are you sure that's what she writes? Do you have the book before you?



没错，that's what she writes.


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## Ghabi

Xiaoma said:


> 没错，that's what she writes.


Urm ... I hope there're not too many sentences like this in the novel. Good luck.


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## Xiaoma

Thanks! I hope so too


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## linglin66

小团圆在线阅读，这样大家要帮你就更容易了。有上下文，就不会理解错了。
http://hi.baidu.com/airenlaiba/blog/item/ab3a60ed0a32d0dcb31cb1bc.html


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## Xiaoma

谢谢你, linglin66!


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## jesse111111

I agree with you. It doest make sense either in Cantonese or Mandarin, althoug we are able to figure out what it means from the context. 



JJchang said:


> It's actually a mixture of a Cantonese term in a normal sentence. 攞命 means "taking life", i.e. die. The translation of that sentence is "I'm waiting (for the death) to take my life!". It's a awkward sentence even in Cantonese. The author 張愛玲 in this novel wants to make her characters more colourful and make them speak in dialect sometimes, but in this instance it doesn't sound right in Cantonese and it definitely is very strange in Mandarin.


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