talk shop; use jargon
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesverb
to talk shop; to use professional jargon among colleagues
dialectAlso written as '调坎儿'. Primarily a dialectal term, used among people in the same trade or profession when they converse using their specialized terminology, often excluding outsiders.
Jǐ几
ge个
lǎo老
gōng工
chéng程
shī师
yī一
jiàn见
miàn面
jiù就
kāi开
shǐ始
diào调
kǎnr坎
wǒ儿
，
yī我
jù一
yě句
tīng也
bù听
dǒng不
懂
。
As soon as the old engineers met, they started talking shop, and I couldn't understand a word.
Tā他
men们
liǎ俩
zài在
yī一
ge个
chǎng厂
zi子
gōng工
zuò作
，
píng平
shí时
liáo聊
tiān天
zǒng总
ài爱
diào调
kǎnr坎
儿
。
They both work in the same factory and always enjoy using trade jargon when chatting.
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Wài外
rén人
tīng听
tā他
men们
diào调
kǎnr坎
jiù儿
，
xiàng就
tīng像
tiān听
shū天
yī书
yàng一
样
。
To outsiders, listening to them talk shop is like listening to Greek.