ha-mi ho hong ch'oay loo lai?
     what good wind blew you here?
          (to a welcome guest) 

hai bong chiam
     sea touches needle
          searching for a needle in a haystack 

hee k'ang k'in 
     light eared
         easily influenced by others 

ho beh bo chiah wan t'au ch'ao
     a good horse does not  eat the grass behind him
          once bitten twice shy 

ho cheng bay t'uan
     ch'au cheng bay tnooi kin
          good breed cannot propagate 
          bad breed cannot be uprooted
                of having useless children 

ho ho hua, ch'ak lo goo sai  bor
     good flower stuck into cowdung
           (a good girl married to a scoundrel)
                utter disappointment

ho kau mia
     good nine lives
          very lucky 

ho kn'ua bo ho chia!
     looks good but tasteless
          barely surviving financially, neither rich nor poor
                looks are deceptive

ho lang pn'ai cho
     hard to be a good man
          goodness is not appreciated 

ho mia mm chai see^
     good life and not knowing it
          does not see he has a good life 

ho sim, hor lui chim 
     good heart, kissed by money
          a good deed unreciprocated 

ho sim, lee kong p'ak
     good heart, struck by lightning
          a good deed unreciprocated 

hor t'au niau ch'oo boay
     tiger head, rat's tail
          a bully is a coward 

huay bay pao chua
     fire cannot surround paper
          the inevitable will happen 
 

Tones
_____

~    rising tone as in hair (prawn)
`    down tone as in tay (earth)
^    up tone as in ch'uan (tired)
!    abrupt sound
n  nasal