<p>This sentence is a customary expression of a local dialect that either belongs to 粵語系 or 吳語系(?).</p>
<p>她<strong>个</strong>做饭<strong>乜</strong>叫做饭？她<strong>那(个)是</strong>做饭<strong>什麼</strong>叫做饭？- If her cooking is acceptable, what is called cooking then? This sentence implies that the quality of her cook is lousy compared to typical cooked food.</p>
<p>You are correct that 也 can replace 乜 and not change the meaning of the sentence, however, 乜 means 什麼(what) which differs from 也. <a href="https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E4%B9%9C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">乜 - meaning</a></p>
<p>As I've no clue which local speaks this way to express this matter, the answer represents my best guess after limited research only.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-17T19:58:08.917Z
2022-08-17T20:05:02.887Z
2022-08-17T20:05:02.887Z
r13
<p>I found the original(?) sentence in the following paper:</p>
<p><a href="https://ira.lib.polyu.edu.hk//bitstream/10397/5175/1/Liu_Bare_Classifier_Yantai.pdf" rel="noreferrer">烟台话中不带指示词或数词的量词结构</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>他个做饭乜叫做饭?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Which seems to be the only reference to this text that I could find. Here it is clearly referred to as: Yantai topolect (烟台话).</p>
<hr />
<p>The Yantai topolect is part of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaoliao_Mandarin" rel="noreferrer">Jiao–Liao Mandarin</a>, which includes the local languages from Dalian, Qingdao, Weihai, etc. The language covers parts of Shandong and Shenyang, even remote places in Heilongjiang.</p>
<hr />
<p>Some notes about「乜」:</p>
<p><a href="https://wenku.baidu.com/view/15d134643b3567ec102d8ad1?mark_pay_doc=0&amp;mark_rec_position=2&amp;clear_uda_param=1&amp;bfetype=new" rel="noreferrer">山东方言人称代词的复数表示法</a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/er4zo.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/er4zo.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>「乜」is a <strong>demonstrative pronoun</strong> which sits somewhere in between here (这) and there (那). If here is close (近) and there is far (远) then 乜 is partway (中).</p>
<p><a href="https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/31268779" rel="noreferrer">山东方言哥带你了解山东方言系列（淄博话中的“来”）</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>淄博方言中的方位词有“这、乜、那”三个， “乜”是指介乎“这、那”二者之间的。有时在“来”后面停顿一下，或加一个“呃”的语音表示这种介宾关系。此时，“来”用于现在正进行的事情，表达动作的持续性。例如，“他来那喝起酒来不散伙了”，就是说他一直在那里喝酒，直到现在还不停下来。</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<p>This doesn't just seem to be a feature isolated to Jiao-Liao</p>
<p><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/%E5%AE%89%E9%99%B8%E8%A9%B1" rel="noreferrer">安陆话</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>指示代词</strong><br />
安陆话的指示带词通常二分。乜1 (niɛ4)表近指，乜2 (niɛ5)表远指，只有声调不同。</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Anlu「乜」can refer to things both near and far, taking place of both 这 and 那. In spoken language it does come with a tonal differential.</p>
<hr />
<p>As for the tricky part in the sentence provided above:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>乜叫做饭?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It seems close to:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>哪里 叫做 做饭</p>
</blockquote>
<p>How could you even call his cooking, <em>cooking</em>?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-19T01:47:35.630Z
Thorough research. Good answer.
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-19T23:24:44.410Z
Amazing! Well done! Thank you very much! What confuses me is, the dictionary says 乜，粤语, but I'm pretty sure the people in 青岛 don't speak 粤语！
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-20T01:04:55.313Z
@Pedroski That's true. Characters are not language exclusive. [「乜」can even be found in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B9%9C) Albeit, probably not readily. When it comes to characters in Chinese there is also have a bit of a "chicken or the egg"-type of quandary: was a character chosen based on its already existent matching meaning or did it just happen to fit the pronunciation of the time? Records of Cantonese do seem to be much more easily obtained than those of 胶辽.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-19T01:24:44.797Z
2022-08-19T01:24:44.797Z
Mou某
<p>I never met this little fella before:  乜。Is it 粤语 for what? I thought they'd written 也 wrong!</p>
<p>I have no more context, this is an example of 个 being used as 冠词, according to the author.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>她个做饭乜叫做饭？</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What does she mean by cooking? (But this is ambiguous, it could mean, &quot;Why is she cooking, I was supposed to do the cooking!)</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>What does she understand the meaning of the word &quot;cooking&quot; to be?</p>
<p>(Maybe she's English. For many English, opening a can of beans and warming them is cooking!)</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-17T06:30:20.130Z
Seems to be Yantai topolect from what I've seen.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-17T14:22:21.870Z
"乜" is "squint", with the meaning of "looking down", disrespect, or disbelieve.
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-17T22:17:23.457Z
烟台话was mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-18T06:13:38.263Z
(I am a native Cantonese,)  她一个做饭也叫做饭？ or 她一个做饭 叫做做饭？ would be complete Cantonese sentence.
envs_h_gang_5
<meaning>
What does 她个做饭乜叫做饭 mean?
# What does 她个做饭乜叫做饭 mean?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-08-16)

I never met this little fella before: 乜。Is it 粤语 for what? I thought they'd written 也 wrong!

I have no more context, this is an example of 个 being used as 冠词, according to the author.

> 她个做饭乜叫做饭？

What does she mean by cooking? (But this is ambiguous, it could mean, "Why is she cooking, I was supposed to do the cooking!)

or

What does she understand the meaning of the word "cooking" to be?

(Maybe she's English. For many English, opening a can of beans and warming them is cooking!)

**Tags:** meaning

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Seems to be Yantai topolect from what I've seen.  
> **username_2**: "乜" is "squint", with the meaning of "looking down", disrespect, or disbelieve.  
> **username_0**: 烟台话was mentioned in the previous paragraph.  
> **username_3**: (I am a native Cantonese,)  她一个做饭也叫做饭？ or 她一个做饭 叫做做饭？ would be complete Cantonese sentence.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-08-19. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

I found the original(?) sentence in the following paper:

[烟台话中不带指示词或数词的量词结构](https://ira.lib.polyu.edu.hk//bitstream/10397/5175/1/Liu_Bare_Classifier_Yantai.pdf)

> 他个做饭乜叫做饭?

Which seems to be the only reference to this text that I could find. Here it is clearly referred to as: Yantai topolect (烟台话).

---

The Yantai topolect is part of [Jiao–Liao Mandarin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaoliao_Mandarin), which includes the local languages from Dalian, Qingdao, Weihai, etc. The language covers parts of Shandong and Shenyang, even remote places in Heilongjiang.

---

Some notes about「乜」:

[山东方言人称代词的复数表示法](https://wenku.baidu.com/view/15d134643b3567ec102d8ad1?mark_pay_doc=0&mark_rec_position=2&clear_uda_param=1&bfetype=new)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/er4zo.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/er4zo.png)

「乜」is a **demonstrative pronoun** which sits somewhere in between here (这) and there (那). If here is close (近) and there is far (远) then 乜 is partway (中).

[山东方言哥带你了解山东方言系列（淄博话中的“来”）](https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/31268779)

> 淄博方言中的方位词有“这、乜、那”三个， “乜”是指介乎“这、那”二者之间的。有时在“来”后面停顿一下，或加一个“呃”的语音表示这种介宾关系。此时，“来”用于现在正进行的事情，表达动作的持续性。例如，“他来那喝起酒来不散伙了”，就是说他一直在那里喝酒，直到现在还不停下来。

---

This doesn't just seem to be a feature isolated to Jiao-Liao

[安陆话](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/%E5%AE%89%E9%99%B8%E8%A9%B1)

> **指示代词**  
> 安陆话的指示带词通常二分。乜1 (niɛ4)表近指，乜2 (niɛ5)表远指，只有声调不同。

In Anlu「乜」can refer to things both near and far, taking place of both 这 and 那. In spoken language it does come with a tonal differential.

---

As for the tricky part in the sentence provided above:

> 乜叫做饭?

It seems close to:

> 哪里 叫做 做饭

How could you even call his cooking, *cooking*?

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Thorough research. Good answer.  
> **username_0**: Amazing! Well done! Thank you very much! What confuses me is, the dictionary says 乜，粤语, but I'm pretty sure the people in 青岛 don't speak 粤语！  
> **username_1**: @username_0 That's true. Characters are not language exclusive. [「乜」can even be found in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B9%9C) Albeit, probably not readily. When it comes to characters in Chinese there is also have a bit of a "chicken or the egg"-type of quandary: was a character chosen based on its already existent matching meaning or did it just happen to fit the pronunciation of the time? Records of Cantonese do seem to be much more easily obtained than those of 胶辽.  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-08-17. Score: 0

This sentence is a customary expression of a local dialect that either belongs to 粵語系 or 吳語系(?).

她**个**做饭**乜**叫做饭？她**那(个)是**做饭**什麼**叫做饭？- If her cooking is acceptable, what is called cooking then? This sentence implies that the quality of her cook is lousy compared to typical cooked food.

You are correct that 也 can replace 乜 and not change the meaning of the sentence, however, 乜 means 什麼(what) which differs from 也. [乜 - meaning](https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E4%B9%9C)

As I've no clue which local speaks this way to express this matter, the answer represents my best guess after limited research only.


---

