Mo lei tau

Mo lei tau (simplified Chinese: 无厘头; traditional Chinese: 無厘頭) is a name given to a type of humour originating from Hong Kong 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 complex interplay of cultural subtleties significant in Hong Kong. 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 (無厘頭尻) which literally means "no heads and tails". However, in Cantonese the word 尻 (Jyutping: haau1/ commonly mispronounced as "gau1") that means end of spine has the same pronunciation of the vulgar word