Cantonese 'questions'

[Psi-Lord]

I found this in another forum (written by Cyrus Chiu there), and I thought it was so interesting I decided to reproduce it here.

   (1) Why do the Cantonese refer to one's birthday as 牛一?

   (2) Why do the Cantonese (or Chinese) refer to a G.I. (soldier) as 丘八?

   (3) Why do the Cantonese refer to a rustic and uncouth guy as 十一哥?

   (4) Why do the Cantonese refer to a small boy as 豆丁?

A broad hint for the answers: they are all connected with the formation of Chinese characters.

[shingrila]

I found this in another forum (written by Cyrus Chiu there), and I thought it was so interesting I decided to reproduce it here.

(1) Why do the Cantonese refer to one's birthday as 牛一?

(2) Why do the Cantonese (or Chinese) refer to a G.I. (soldier) as 丘八?

(3) Why do the Cantonese refer to a rustic and uncouth guy as 十一哥?

(4) Why do the Cantonese refer to a small boy as 豆丁?

A broad hint for the answers: they are all connected with the formation of Chinese characters.

these are all old-fashioned phrases and you'd only hear them in some TV series