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Pronunciation

Mah-Jong
I’ve got used to pronouncing it with a soft “j” – something between a hard “j” (as in “John”) and a “y” as in “yonder”. Perhaps “Beijing” is an example. Or the English word, “genre”.

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Writing

I have largely followed those used in “Mah-Jong (Know the Game)” by Gwyn Headley and Yvonne Seeley – the official reference for the BMJA rules. Notice the selective capitalisation.

Mah-Jong	Mah-Jong, call ‘Mah-Jong!’, one for Mah-Jong, fishing, calling, calling hand
the wall	wall, the Great Wall of China, live wall, dead wall, kong box, loose tile, call ‘Pow!’
accessories	dice, racks, tallies, wind discs, Tong box, Chuang-tzu
Winds	Wind, prevailing Wind, Wind of the round, own Wind, Wind positions, Wind tiles, East Wind, South Wind, West Wind, North Wind, all four Winds, East Wind numbered 1, etc.
Dragons	Dragon, Dragons, Red Dragon, Green Dragon, White Dragon, all three Dragons
suits	suit, Bamboos, Circles, Characters, 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, 1 Bamboos, 2 Bamboos, (not 2 of Bamboos), etc., 1 Circles, 2 Circles, etc., 1 Characters, 2 Characters, etc., one of each 1, one of each 9, seven pairs of 1s / 9s, a run from 2 to 8
bonus tiles	bonus tiles, Flowers, Flower tiles, Seasons, Season tiles, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, bonus points, bouquet, the four Flowers/Seasons numbered 1 to 4
major/minor	major tile(s), minor tile(s), honour tile(s)
sets	sets, exposed, concealed, chow, pung, kong, a pair, chowed, punged, konged, call ‘Chow!’, call ‘Pung!’, call ‘Kong!’, rob the kong, robbing the kong
special hands	special hand, All pair honours, All Winds and Dragons, Buried treasure, Four blessings hovering over the door, Fourfold plenty, Heads and tails, Imperial jade, Knitting, Purity, The thirteen unique wonders, The wriggling snake, Three great scholars, Triple knitting, limit, the limit
goulash	wash-out, goulash, joker tiles, jokers, wild

 

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