# Gua gua long di dong (乖乖龙的东)



## notnotchris

I have a two-part question here.

When I lived in Yangzhou (扬州) I often heard the expression "gua gua long di dong" which is kind of an extension/variation on 呱呱叫, a slang word meaning great or excellent.

This funny phrase was always followed by the reply of "韭菜炒大葱" (I'm guessing because it rhymes?). But nobody outside Yangzhou had ever heard this expression.

1. What are the 汉字 for "gua gua long di dong"? (I hope they exist)

2. Are there any other cool phrases like this? I believe this is kind of like a code word to see if someone is from that certain part of China. It'd be really interesting to hear if this phenomenon exists elsewhere.


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## kkmp

The phrase is 乖乖龙的东, also written as 乖乖隆(的/地)（东/冬/咚).  It is spoken language so its written form is not fixed.

This phrase is most often seen or heard in a shorter and standard form, 乖乖 (guai1 guai4), which means a feeling of surprise. In some cases, it also means surprisingly wonderful. It could be roughly translated as "oh dear" or "oh my God". 

乖乖 is already incorporated in the standard Chinese whereas 乖乖龙的东 is purely Yangzhou dialect. It is true that a variational form like 乖乖龙的东 could be used as a "fingerprint" to trace people's origin. 

I learnt this Yangzhou dialect from a Chinese marvel novel called 鹿鼎记 by 金庸. It happens that both the author and the main character of this novel are from Yangzhou.

An excerpt from this novel.

韦小宝 心中大叫：“乖乖龙的东，我的妈呀！你派老子去五台山陪老和尚，宁可叫我坐牢。”果然听得康熙说道：“这样罢，你上五台山去，出家做了和尚，就在清凉寺中服侍我父皇……”韦小宝听得局势紧急，不但要陪老和尚，自己还得做小和尚，大事之不妙，无以复加，不等他说完，忙道：“服侍老皇爷是好得很，要我做和尚，这个……我可不干!”


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## notnotchris

Thanks KKMP, I'm always impressed at your knowledge of Chinese.

Interesting characters, too (乖乖). I guess this means it's not related to 呱呱叫 after all. I was a bit off on the meaning too. But, I only ever used it to make people laugh, which it certainly accomplished.


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## avlee

Well, this could imply 呱呱叫(adj.) sometimes according to the real situation, which means NO.1/EXCELLENT/FANTASTIC, etc. 'Cause the phrase 乖乖龙的东 as you mentioned above is rather an interjection than an adjective as far as I can see.
I used to say that phrase when I was very young living in my home town which is another city next to Yangzhou. 
韭菜炒大葱 is used just because it rhymes as you can easily identify. 
The short form for 乖乖龙的东 is 乖乖, which could also mean '(My) baby/babe' or 'Good boy/girl' - an intimate call/hypocorism to lovely kids according to the speaker's tone/expression.


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## notnotchris

Thanks Avlee. What city near Yangzhou did you grow up in?

Also, any clue as to what 龙的东 means? (East part of a dragon? Bump on a dragon? Dragon winter?) I can see 乖乖 in reference to a good kid.


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## kkmp

notnotchris said:


> Thanks Avlee. What city near Yangzhou did you grow up in?
> 
> Also, any clue as to what 龙的东 means? (East part of a dragon? Bump on a dragon? Dragon winter?) I can see 乖乖 in reference to a good kid.




Is there any meaning of dokie in "okie dokie"?


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## notnotchris

I see, so it's purely phonetic. Thanks KKMP


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## catherine1999

I think you tried to say " guai guai long di dong". 
*A*ctually  it isn't YangZhou dialect but *J*apanese. *T*he words where it comes from and becomes pupolar is the song "Sakura" singed by POP Star named "郭富城".
In fact,people seldom speak " guai guai long di dong" to express meaning of "great,awesome,powerful,excellent...etc",COZ*because* it sounds awkward,uncomfortable.


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## avlee

notnotchris said:


> Thanks Avlee. What city near Yangzhou did you grow up in?
> 
> Also, any clue as to what 龙的东 means? (East part of a dragon? Bump on a dragon? Dragon winter?) I can see 乖乖 in reference to a good kid.


Sorry for the late update on this. 
The 2nd Q is already answered by KKMM, if my memory is right.
For the 1st Q, I have to answer that seriously. 'Cause someone else in this forum already looks me as a native of the place I'm staying. That's unfortunately wrong.
I grew up in Yanchen (this word consists of two characters, Yan represents *salt*, chen represents *city*.) which is adjacent to Yangzhou.
BTW, Catherine's comment really surprised me a lot. So I quickly asked one Japanese interpreter. And she said no.


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## Kurt Jiang

I learnt this Yangzhou dialect from a Chinese marvel novel called 鹿鼎记 by 金庸. It happens that both the author and the main character of this novel are from Yangzhou.
quote said:
			
		

> i don't agree with you on this point .as far as i know ,the outhor 金庸 is from Jiaxin ,Zhejiang Province,East China ,which is just between Shanghai and Hangzhou !


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## Kurt Jiang

Kurt Jiang said:


> I learnt this Yangzhou dialect from a Chinese marvel novel called 鹿鼎记 by 金庸. It happens that both the author and the main character of this novel are from Yangzhou.
> quote said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> i don't agree with you on this point .as far as i know ,the outhor 金庸 is from Jiaxin ,Zhejiang Province,East China ,which is just between Shanghai and Hangzhou !
Click to expand...


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## Kurt Jiang

guai(1)guai(null) is the chinese word to express the meaning of "wondrful ,awful,etc" ,never from Japese


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## huyi122

Knowing the meaning is just enough.Don't use it,Because it is a bit weird to hear it from foreigners ,unless you want to make yourself funny


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## daoxunchang

I have heard and used it before I know there was a 郭富城. Though 郭 fall in love with a Janpanese and sang this song --- or part of it? --- in Janpanese, this exclamation is definitely Chinese.
I've often seen it written as 乖乖隆的咚 and other forms I cannot remember. I don't think there's a definite written form for this phrase. I believe 金庸 wrote the latter part of it as 龙的东 just because the characters fit in pronunciation. This exclamation is essentially an oral thing and I think the characters of my version are more appropriate for an onomatopoeia.
Ah, for your information, I come from the southern part of Anhui.


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