Talk:Chop chop (phrase)

Disputed derivation

See this discussion by Professor Mair. --Boson (talk) 09:55, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A note, there is a Cantonese word, very similar to the English word Chop, which refers to seal. Inasmuch as the poor used a print of their hand as a seal, anecdotal evidence points to the use of 'chop' as hand, in 'pidgin English'. This explains 'hand sticks' {chopsticks}, and 'use both hands', (chop-chop) as well as the karate Chop, chop suey, and several other expressions. While it may not have the stamp of authenticity that other etymologies possess, it has the advantage of being exactly the same now as in the 17th century. The use of 'Chop' as a seal, however has almost been lost altogether. links for the word Chop as Seal can be found in the articles. 2605:6000:5741:D400:5:DA7D:E241:2869 (talk) 20:42, 21 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Google books saves the day again

Colossal error in an article about a simple expression: A simple google books search provided a source from 1789, which is now cited, which clearly uses "chop chop" in the meaning traditionally attributed to the expression.

Also, only three years later, other results published in England show the expression listed amongst common Cantonese expressions and slang. So much for this article. FIXED. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.162.68.81 (talk) 06:58, 7 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

That instance of “Chop, chop” has nothing to do with the Chinese phrase meaning ‘hurry’. It is a description of a pig eating a chicken and relates to the normal English word chop. Kokoshneta (talk) 10:55, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]