What does 'Mamahuhu' mean?Updated a year ago
Good question! The word ‘mamahuhu’ is one of many four character idioms (called chengyu) used in Chinese language. These idioms (of which there are thousands) typically have a colloquial meaning rooted in some interesting piece of history or folklore, often capturing a tiny morsel of timeless wisdom or philosophical concept.
Literally, Mamahuhu means horse (ma) horse (ma) tiger (hu) tiger (hu). It’s exact colloquial meaning however is a bit squirrelly. Mamahuhu is often seen translated as “so-so” and is sometimes even used to describe carelessness. This is indeed a silly word to name a restaurant after, especially one that takes great care to deliver quality and attention to detail day in and out. However, at Mamahuhu we like to say that we are very serious about what we are doing but never take ourselves too seriously. For us, ‘mamahuhu’ captures the spirit of bucking the trend towards perfection and impossibly high standards that can suck the fun and quirkiness out of life. It reminds us of the spirit of play and murkiness that often open the door to new and exciting things. It feels right to hold yourself to a very high standard but to not worry too much about it in the end.
Most importantly for us, even if you don’t speak Chinese, Mamahuhu is a silly, easy-to-pronounce Mandarin word that has a magical way of making people smile or chuckle when they read it. In other words, it makes people smile and that alone is enough for us.