Discover with TimothyGuek1 Kim3 Chnae1

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Guek1 Kim3 Chnae1 is a common nursery rhyme in Penang Hokkien. There is another, perhaps even more popular version of this rhyme, called Hoay1kim3chnae1, which means "Fireflies". This version translates as "The moon shining brightly." To me, this makes more sense, as the next verse is talking of Chap Goh Meh, the 15th evening of Chinese New Year, when the moon is usually shining brightly.

Guek1 kim3chnae1 Chap3 Goh4 Meh2
Chnia4 lu4-eh3 koo33wa4 lai3 ciak3 teh2

Teh3 sio3-sio1,
knia3 lor33 beh1 kin3cio1;

Kin3cio1 be33ki1 paek3,
knia3 lor33 beh1 chaek3;

Chaek3 be33ki1 thark1,
knia3 lor33 beh1 bark1;

Bark1 be33ki1 bua2,
knia3 lor33 beh1 cua2;

Cua2 be33ki1 liak1,
knia3 lor33 beh1 kha3kiak1;

Kha3kiak1 be33ki1 cheng33,
knia3 lor33 beh1 ka3leng3;

Ka3leng3 ko1, ka3leng3 soh4,
Chnia4 lu4-eh3 koo33wa4 sio3 en1to4!

On the 15th evening of Chinese New Year, when the moon is shining brightly, you invited your brother-in-law to tea;

As the tea is burning hot,
you decided to go for a walk and bought some bananas

Forgot to peel the banana,
so went out again and bought a book, ...

Forgot to read the book,
so went out again and bought an ink stick, ...

Forgot to grind the ink stick,
so went out again and bought a snake, ...

Forgot to catch the snake,
so went out again and bought a clogs, ...

Forgot to wear the clogs,
so went out again and bought a mynah bird, ...

Male mynah, female mynah
Invite your brother-in-law to a wrestling match !



About this website



Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.

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