Mo lei tau

Mo lei tau (traditional Chinese: 冇厘頭; simplified Chinese: 冇厘头; Jyutping: mou4 lei4 tau4; pinyin: Mǎolítóu; lit. 'nonsensical') is a type of slapstick humour associated with Hong Kong popular culture that developed during the late 20th century. It is a phenomenon which has grown largely from its presentation in modern film media. Its humour arises from the placement of surprising and incongruous elements, and the complex interplay of cultural subtleties. Typical constituents of this humour include nonsensical parodies, juxtaposition of contrasts, sudden surprises in spoken dialogue and action and improbable and deliberate anachronisms.

During an interview with Stephen Chow for his 2006 "Asian Invasion" season, the BBC's film critic Jonathan Ross referred to the genre as "Silly Talk", a label that Chow was happy to accept.

Semantics[]

Mo lei tau (Jyutping: mou4 lei4 tau4) is a Cantonese term which may be loosely translated as "with no source", but is generally used to mean "makes no sense". The original phrase was mo lei tau gau (冇厘頭尻) which literally means "cannot differentiate between head and tail". However, in Cantonese the word "尻" (Jyutping: haau1/ commonly mispronounced as "gau1"), which means the end of the spine, is often mispronounced as the vulgar word "