9 comments 6.4.11

A face only a mother could love

Posted by Miss Fong - Filed under , , ,
Sometimes, you come across people so beautiful you can't help yourself from staring. Other times, you come across people so ugly...you just wanna punch them out.

WHAT? Yea, I said it. Some people are so ugly, they just trigger the whack-a-mole reaction in me, whereby I gasp in horror every time they pop up and all I wanna do is clobber it back into its sad little hole with my giant stuffed hammer.

I believe there's a term for this in Cantonese called 'yeung seui', which literally means 'ugly in appearance'. I've tried to translate it into English before but never quite managed, since 'fugly', 'repulsive' or 'disgusting' just doesn't warrant a physical beating like 'yeung seui' does. Or is it just me who defines 'yeung seui' as 'so damn ugly you just wanna punch him/her out'?

As an example, I came across a very 'yeung seui' guy in the MTR the other day. He was sitting across me looking like a zombie with his lower jaw jutted out and mouth hanging open to catch any flies passing by, I presume. His eyes were rolled into the back of his head, yet he still managed to stare at everyone around him for uncomfortably long periods of time, all the while giving a 'I want to eat your brains' look to us all.

Like a train wreck, I tried to look away but found my eyes drifting back to him magnetically against my will, getting more and more annoyed with the way he looked, and why did he have to keep staring at me?! Even though it was days ago, the image of him was emblazoned into my head, so I just had to draw him out:


...now isn't that a face you just wanna punch out!? 
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9 comments:

成Shing said...

I think you're making the term "yeung seui" worse than it should be. People who look "jin gak" warrant a punch in the face.

Miss Fong said...

Thanks Shing Shing! I had a feeling that definition was all in my head. I'll switch to using 'jin gak' from now on... but doesn't that mean 'evil, sly, conniving biatch or bastard'?

ruesedaine said...

As I understand it, "yeung seul" is a physical description while "jin gak" refers to a person's character. Please correct me if I am wrong.

成Shing said...

I guess you're both right. All the terms can be used quite broadly.

For example, "yeung seui" can range from being embarrassed (feeling) to being ugly (physical). The term was originally coined to describe when something was physically ugly.

"Jin gak" originally meant a bad character (or evil, sly, conniving biatch or bastard) but has evolved to describing somebody's appearance also. Somebody's appearance can be described as "jin gak". I guess it's like saying that someone looks like a bastard.

Personally, if I was described somebody as "worse than fugly", I was say that their "yeung ho jin gak". But each to their own!

Happy Cursing! ^_^

Zombiehellmonkey said...

nice drawing, I have yet to encounter a yeung seui in Hong Kong.

Zombiehellmonkey said...

BTW, he was staring at you because he probably wanted to breed ... 'nuff said.

L S said...

I'm with u E on the 'yeung sui' thing!!! Altho being unattractive is not usually the source of being 'sui' in my book, actions which those individuals do on purpose to make others feel uncomfortable definitely make this guy beyond 'yeung sui'!!!! I too had a simliar experience on the mtr recently and its like they have no scruples,with tones of ppl watching, ya I was annoyed too and will never forget his ooglie face either. It's like they thrive on the discomfort of others, maybe it's like some weird power trip or something. Anyways, they need a taste of their own medicine! P.s. Hope u never run into that guy again!!!

Anonymous said...

omg, you really drew a good zombie looking fella there. hee hee. As always, enjoying your illustrations!

Gastronommy said...

You're such a bitch. I love it. Post completely cracked me up.