up what spring

English

Etymology

Partial calque of Cantonese 噏乜春 (ngap¹ mat¹ ceon¹, “what the hell are you babbling about”, literally “what testicles are you babbling about”), where 春 (ceon¹) is a homograph meaning both “testicles” and “spring (season)”. By surface analysis, Cantonese up +‎ what +‎ spring.

Phrase

up what spring

1. (Hong Kong, colloquial, slightly vulgar) What the hell are you saying?
   • 2017, 港語日報 [KONGISH DAILY] (overall work in Cantonese), →ISBN:

     相反，好諷刺地，一句Grammar全對嘅句子，有時反而唔知佢Up what spring，例如日文偽文青廢Up系列：「在非洲,每隔一分鐘，就有六十秒過去⋯⋯」

Synonyms

• up mud spring, up mud 9, up what 9