Have! More!

In yesterday’s article I talked about how expressions containing the word ‘have’ in English hardly ever contain 有 (yau – have) in Cantonese, such as have some Mons (飲雪花 yam Suet Fa – Drink Snow Flower), or

have a certain electrifying air about him 好特別 (hou dak bit – well special), or

have a bite to eat 食嘢 (sek yeh – eat stuff).

For fun I had a look in my dictionary. Its author has taken this ‘everything in English is about have‘ to heart to such an extent that she has listed what seems like most verbs under have.
(The first entry in that dictionary is dizzy, listed as under A as ‘A little dizzy’.)
Here is a collection:

Have a cold 傷風 (seung fong – suffer wind[the wind that blows through your hair, hello])
Have a dream 發夢 (fat mong)
Have a lawsuit 打官司 (da guhn si – hit hall take-care-of)
Have a shock 受激刺 (sau gek ji – receive irritate thorn)
Have a sad look 愁容滿面 (chau yong muhn min – sad expression full face)
Have the tooth filled 補牙 (bou ah – replenish tooth)

As well as of course ‘Have a stool’ (bowel movement), ‘have indigestion’, ‘have a fire’ and many other haves. The point is that none of them includes 有 (yau – have)!
Tomorrow I’ll try to find some that do.

Meanwhile, why don’t you take an intensive Cantonese course this August? One hour three times a week; you’ll be fluent before Christmas.