"Mahjongg Slang"

[Pilar Quezzaire]

Hi,

A friend of mine asked me if I could find out some of the popular
superstitions that Mahjongg players sometimes follow. She specifically
asked if anyone else used the term "haap tui" when breaking a wall, and
what it meant, if it was Cantonese or Mandarin, etc. Anyone know?

Thanks!

Pilar, New Player

[Tom Sloper]

Hello Pilar,

I have come across "hop toi" as a term used in the Wright-Patterson game. It
is said during the deal - not when breaking the wall, but when taking one
stack from one wall and one stack from another. According to the
Wright-Patterson rulebook, the superstition is that nobody but the player
whose tiles those are must touch them. But the W-P rules do not say what is
accomplished by saying "hop toi."

I played with a lady (American-style mah-jongg) who says "ming toi" when she
takes from the corner, and apparently she said it as a sort of wish that
there might be a joker among them.

As for other phrases and superstitions, I guess there are several. For
example, Chinese players sometimes apply a special penalty to the dealer
when all four players discard the same wind or dragon in rapid sequence; in
the Japanese game, this causes an automatic redeal; and there is a
superstition against ever letting this happen with the WEST wind (that if
all 4 players discarded West in rapid sequence, that someone would die).

Cheers,
Tom

Tom Sloper
http://www.sloperama.com/mjfaq.html

[Wei-Hwa Huang]

On Sat, 24 Nov 2001 00:22:34 GMT, Tom Sloper <tom...@sloperama.com> wrote:
>the Japanese game, this causes an automatic redeal; and there is a
>superstition against ever letting this happen with the WEST wind (that if
>all 4 players discarded West in rapid sequence, that someone would die).

The reasoning is that the Western sky has traditionally been believed
as where people go when they die (akin to European "heaven"). One such
idiomatic phrase is (in Mandarin) "Yi1 Lu4 Sung4 Xi1" = "One Route Send
West" = "Sending Westward on a Fixed Route", meaning an action of
someone inevitably dying. But "sung4" can mean both "send" and "give",
so all four players discarding West can feel uncomfortably close to
the idiom.

--
Wei-Hwa Huang, whu...@ugcs.net, http://www.ugcs.net/~whuang/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I see dead links. They don't know they're dead. I see them all the time.

[Tom Sloper]

"Wei-Hwa Huang" <whu...@cruzeiro.ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote

> idiomatic phrase is (in Mandarin) "Yi1 Lu4 Sung4 Xi1" = "One Route Send
> West" = "Sending Westward on a Fixed Route", meaning an action of
> someone inevitably dying. But "sung4" can mean both "send" and "give",
> so all four players discarding West can feel uncomfortably close to
> the idiom.

Very cool. Thank you for the explanation, Wei-Hwa!

Tom

[Gareth J. M. Saunders]

> A friend of mine asked me if I could find out some of the popular
> superstitions that Mahjongg players sometimes follow.

Don't know if this falls into the category of superstitions but my Mum when
she plays always says "Lucky corners" if she draws her tiles (at start of
play, and during the game) from any one of the corners. Any idea where this
comes from?

Gareth

[Tom Sloper]

"Gareth J. M. Saunders" <gar...@gareth-and-jane-saunders.co.uk> wrote

> Don't know if this falls into the category of superstitions but my Mum
when
> she plays always says "Lucky corners" if she draws her tiles (at start of
> play, and during the game) from any one of the corners. Any idea where
this
> comes from?

Hi Gareth,

That particular superstition is called "Hop Toi" (I also know someone who
says "Ming Toi"). In some rules (most notably Wright-Patterson), it is
forbidden for anyone except the owner of those tiles to touch them (even the
"curtsy" must not occur until the owner has taken the Hop Toi tiles), and
some special significance is attached if flowers are among the Hop Toi
tiles.

It might date back to an earlier phase of the American game, in which
flowers were wild. This lady who says "Ming Toi" says it in the hope that
jokers will be among the four corner tiles.

Cheers,
Tom

[sbar...@gmail.com]

Hi Pilar, my English mother, who was brought up in Malaya and understood Cantonese, said "Hop Toi" meant to "keep the dragons inside the breached walls on the table". 'Hop" meaning to 'shut in' and "toi" meaning "table". No idea if this is correct or not but, in my family, the player breaking around the wall's corner always said it . Zannah

[Julian Bradfield]

On 2019-05-18, sbar...@gmail.com <sbar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Friday, 23 November 2001 16:31:30 UTC-6, Pilar Quezzaire wrote:
>> A friend of mine asked me if I could find out some of the popular
>> superstitions that Mahjongg players sometimes follow. She specifically
>> asked if anyone else used the term "haap tui" when breaking a wall, and
>> what it meant, if it was Cantonese or Mandarin, etc. Anyone know?
>

> Hi Pilar, my English mother, who was brought up in Malaya and understood Cantonese, said "Hop Toi" meant to "keep the dragons inside the breached walls on the table". 'Hop" meaning to 'shut in' and "toi" meaning "table". No idea if this is correct or not but, in my family, the player breaking around the wall's corner always said it . Zannah

I don't know Cantonese, but from a dictionary I find
㘡 haap6 'a pen for wild beasts; a cage for prisoners'
枱 toi4 'a table, desk'