What does 'cha' mean?

TTHopeful · Dec 11, 2011

Hi all

After a recent discussion with a friend, we came to a conclusion that we had no idea what the term cha, cho or cha lay means when a Chinese player shouts it.

Does anyone know any history on this word? Who came up with the shouting after a point.

And is their a Chinese translation for these words.

Thanks

Mr. RicharD · Dec 11, 2011

Cho is a slang term in both Cantonese and Mandarin meaning Ball originally. However with the National Sport in Table Tennis it's only natural that it became a common term within their ball sport. My guess is that it best translates to "good point" or "great job." More an affirmation of doing the correct thing within a point it's probably more best evolved to a point of praise currently. More of a "hell yeah," than anything else celebrating one's success in a given point or game.

Dave Cochrane · Dec 11, 2011

also in europe many players use it and i was once told that in europe it derived from the norwegian, icelandic and dutch term "Ja" which translates as "Yes" in english.
to be fair how true this is i can't be certain of, just passing on what i was told a while ago.

Mr. RicharD · Dec 11, 2011

That's very interesting because there is background in many languages that also have a similar sound. In Korean Joh is the term for "give it to me." As in the slang term "come on, give it to me." That athletes have said in the past. I believe that the Japanese "Sah" derives from their term "Osa" which I believe means many things, but the largest use is "yes." It's kind of cool to see a lot of these words backgrounds.

Anders · Dec 11, 2011

In Norwegian "Yes" means "Ja", so that may be true.. But I shout "Ja" when I win a point.. Just trying to keep my language straight

baalzam · Dec 11, 2011

Ball in mandarin is "Qiu", and "nice ball" would be "Hao qiu".

beishuangcc · Dec 12, 2011

no meaning
just voice of cheering

Mr. RicharD · Dec 12, 2011

In Mandarin and Cantonese cho also translates to ball. It is a newer slang term, but many of my Chinese friends from Beijing and Hong Kong have verified this.

Justchill · Dec 12, 2011

what means tjo lei ?

pingpongemil · Dec 12, 2011

I´ve heard that Osa in Japanes is like "come on"

YosuaYosan · Dec 12, 2011

Don't have any idea actually.
I think its just for releasing stress after a great point?

I sometimes in an intense match says WOOHOO rather than cho

WiWa · Dec 12, 2011

I don't think they mean to shout some particular word. It will be something relating to tabletennis or happiness I guess, but if you play table tennis every day the celebrating shouts will be a sort of a habit I think. No particular meaning in them. You will also hear stuff like 'cho, come on', which is a combination of languages. Like mentioned before, 'Ja' means 'Yes' in some languages. Probably some ways of shouting are perceived as a mutation on a word by foreigners

Which they adapt and mutate further haha. But still there is no particular message in them, you just shout what you are used to, or what comes to mind (probably not always the smartest things). I remember my teammate celebrating a point with 'Haha, gefopt!' which is Dutch for 'Haha, fooled!' (Opponent misread the spin or something like that I believe) Everyone in the hall cracked up, including the opponent and his teammates. That time it did have a message

Rhydian · Dec 12, 2011

YosuaYosan said:
Don't have any idea actually.
I think its just for releasing stress after a great point?

I sometimes in an intense match says WOOHOO rather than cho

me too ^^or something like yeehaa

many players I know just shout: chosa ^^

azlan · Dec 12, 2011

I don't think it means anything. In the old days I used to shout "woosah". Now most shouted "cho". I mean if "cho" was used by Malaysian TT players only, it won't get picked up internationally hehehe. But instead, it's widely used by the Chinese, the TT super power, and it's contagious. I think I'll do wooohooo now, maybe Yosua can set a new trend hahaha.

Mr. RicharD · Dec 12, 2011

As far as I know Cho Lay is just an add on meaning somewhere in the field of "good point let's go" or "come on let's go." Wang Hao I believe was the first noticeable user of Cho Lay and also Choi. Wang Liqin and Ma Lin had been using Cho as their main use of celebration then at some point I remember hearing Wang Hao say Choi instead of Cho and it kind of caught on then he later added on the Cho Lay and now there are a number of different slang terms that players across the globe use.

All in all I find it better to use your own language to define a celebratory term, but all of the Chinese terms don't really have any other meaning than pumping oneself up for the win of the match.

Rhydian · Dec 13, 2011

Yeah, you're right! Everybody should have his own celebration!
For example, yesterday I played a guy at my club and when he did points he encouraged himself by saying: "Great chickenwing!" he names his strokes chickenwing ^^
so funny to look at him or to play a game against him ^^

WiWa · Dec 13, 2011

Rhydian said:
Yeah, you're right! Everybody should have his own celebration!
For example, yesterday I played a guy at my club and when he did points he encouraged himself by saying: "Great chickenwing!" he names his strokes chickenwing ^^
so funny to look at him or to play a game against him ^^

That's distracting

I once played a guy who said 'come on' at every point he won. But he said it in such a dialect that I spent the whole match being annoyed by it, and so I made myself chanceless by focusing on the least important

What does 'cha' mean?

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