Maybe you fine folk can help:
I used to go out with a girl from Singapore, and with her mates she'd often speak "Singlish", which was a combination of Cantonese and English.

We smoked quite a lot of dope at the time, and she had an excellent phrase which was pronounced "Whah lao ... ", to be said in a tired voice, which translated roughly as "Oh for fuck's sake ... " but in a really accurate way of being really stoned and can't be arsed to sort whatever it is out.

When talking some years later with a chap from China, he knew of Singlish, and asked me to say the phrase. He said it was quite a racist term, meaning "Dirty white man". I don't believe she was saying this, and asked if he was sure. He said it depends entirely on how you pronounce it.

Has anyone else heard of this phrase?
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 27 Oct 2011, 15:36, 9 replies)

Dunno if she got it from London, but a phrase I picked up from stoners when first moving here was:
"'Low (pronounced lao) it", as in "Allow it"

Couldn've been a corruption of that...dunno, despite living in Singapore for a few months, my Singlish is very, very basic
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Thu 27 Oct 2011, 15:41, closed)

Singlish is fucking annoying
also they like finish everything with ah or lah, even more annoying

gwi loh is what they call white people, think has something to do with round eyes, rather thant their SLANTY FUCKING CHINKY FUCKING EYES.
(serge, Thu 27 Oct 2011, 16:18, closed)

It's a bit like scouse in that respect

( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Thu 27 Oct 2011, 16:19, closed)

Innit

(serge, Thu 27 Oct 2011, 16:21, closed)

Why you ngak suka Singlish lah?
(Avnas dosh!, Fri 28 Oct 2011, 5:54, closed)

White ghost
From my experience in Hong Kong: In cantonese Gwai-lo means "white ghost" and is (apparently) a term of abuse.
(netpixie you should reconsider your life choices., Thu 27 Oct 2011, 18:38, closed)

Pretty much
Some Hong Kong friends of mine translate gwailo literally as "ghost man". It's not really an insult any more, but you wouldn't be using it at a job interview...
(The Sideburnman, Fri 28 Oct 2011, 8:06, closed)

More Singlish
tick for Gwai-lo from me, but many Singaporeans I know use the words Ang Mo (literally, Hokkien for red-haired) to describe us whities, whatever our hair colour. They even have a district called Ang Mo Kio, variously described as red tomato or old bridges because the Chinese characters for these sound so similar, and many foreign firms are based there.
(Classic Ray, Sat 29 Oct 2011, 16:52, closed)

gweilo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gweilo

nowadays, Gwailo is simply a Cantonese word used to refer to Caucasians without any negative connotations.
(imallamallama looking forward to llamageddon on, Sun 30 Oct 2011, 20:25, closed)