和尚划船——無法度

Chinese

		preceptor; high priest; head monk preceptor; high priest; head monk; any Buddhist monk	to row; rowing		to no avail
trad. (和尚划船——無法度)		和尚	划船	——	無法度
simp. (和尚划船——无法度)		和尚	划船	——	无法度
Literally: “A Buddhist monk rows a boat - a man with no hair sailing across (to no avail)”.

Etymology

A monk is bald, i.e. he has no hair (無髮／无发 (bô hoat)). Therefore, the second part of the phrase is 無髮渡／无发渡. 髮／发 (hoat) has the same pronunciation as 法 (hoat) and 渡 (tō͘, “sailing across the sea or river”) has the same pronunciation as 度 (tō͘)

Pronunciation

• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): hôe-siūⁿ kò-chûn, bô-hoat-tō͘

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• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hôe-siūⁿ kò-chûn, bô-hoat-tō͘
    • Tâi-lô: huê-siūnn kò-tsûn, bô-huat-tōo
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /hue²³⁻³³ siũ³³⁻²¹ kɤ²¹⁻⁴¹ t͡sun²³ bɤ²³⁻³³ huat̚³²⁻⁴ tɔ³³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /hue²⁴⁻¹¹ siũ³³⁻¹¹ ko¹¹⁻⁵³ t͡sun²⁴ bo²⁴⁻¹¹ huat̚³²⁻⁴ tɔ³³/

Idiom

和尚划船——無法度

1. (Hokkien, xiehouyu) to no avail