[marlborolight]

Originally Posted by professorookami

those days when men ruled china, and amongst those in the cantonese community, many men (if not all) would take concubines (legally married to him with the consent of the first wife) but mistresses were "kept收" and many times these wu lei jing 狐狸精(vixen spirits) were attacked by those gangs formed by the first wife.

When one had only 1 wife (until he died) the wife is always the lou poh and the legal word was fatt chai发妻. In the event when his lou poh died and he took legally a replacement wife, the replacement wife was known as teen forng 填房(fill up the room) and her status would be the same as the dead fatt chai.

If he were to take a concubine (fatt chai or teen forng still living) his new addition will start a new category (i.e. Lai series) the first one would be called ah lai, and the second yi lai and so forth..

So, strictly speaking, there is no tai lai, just ah lai, as you won't know that upon getting "tai lai" you will get "yi lai" so the line could stop at the first concubine, so ah lai was appropriate for that purpose.

不愧是 proffesor..