Black Dragon Cafe

To say to an old man “At your age you should know better” in Yunnanese, you say that their beard has gone to seed.

For example, say an old man steals candy from a baby, the mother of the child may well scream at him:

死老棍儿，你胡子都起苔儿啦，还那么不懂事，咋个还欺个小娃娃。
Sī lāo gǔnr, nì fùzi doù qì taìr la, haí nǎme bù dōn shì, zǎge haí qí ge xiào wāwā.

Literally: Dead old villain, your beard’s long gone to seed and you still don’t understand [how to behave], how can you bully a small child?

English: You nasty old geezer, you should know better at your age, picking on a little kid like that!

In Mandarin the phrase “your beard has gone to seed” is not used, but the meaning can be expressed as:

还活不明白
Haí huó bù míngbai

Or

活了这么久，你怎么还不明白道理？
Huó le zhème jiǔ, nǐ zěnme haí bù míngbai dào li?

“Circling fly” is used to describe someone who uses tactics of confusion and misinformation in order to get what they want, most often in a business situation. For example:
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A Yunnanese expression that means to be extremely angry. It was explained to me as someone being so outraged that green flames start shooting around their head.

鬼火绿 literally “ghost fire green”
gui1 huo4 lu4

You can also separate it:
鬼火一头就绿起来的
gui1 huo4 yi4 tow4 jiu4 lu4 qi3 lair4 de3

Example sentence:

那个崴人做点事雀神怪鸟呢, 我鬼火太绿啦。
ner4 ge4 wey1 ren4 zuo4 dier3 si4 chuo1 shen1 guai3 niao4 ne, wo4 gui1 huo4 tair4 lu4 la.
Literally: That twisted person does things in a “sparrow spirit strange bird” way, it makes my ghost flames too green.
English: That sketchy bloke does everything so half-arsed, it pisses me off no end.

In Mandarin, 鬼火 gui3 huo3 means “will-o-the-wisp”, green ethereal fires that appear at night, especially around graves, said to be lit by ghosts. It is unrelated to the above expression. If you wanted to convey the “ghost fire green” anger in Mandarin, the usual equivalent is pedestrian expressions like 愤怒 (fen4 nu4) or just 非常生气 (fei1 chang2 sheng1 qi4). There is however this one that I’ve mentioned before:

七窍生烟
qi1 qiao4 sheng1 yan1
Which means “[so angry that] smoke shoots from every orifice of the head”

Several fun Yunnan dialect expressions for noisy and grimy:

Yi li wa la – [adv.] Cacophony of people speaking
莫在这点咿哩哇拉呢啦，某看见我在打电话改？
Mau4 zai4 zhe4 diar4 yi1 li1 wa1 la1 ne la, mou3 kan4 jian4 wo3 zai4 da3 dier4hua4 gya?
Mandarin: 不要在这里吵吵闹闹，没看到我在打电话吗？
Pinyin: Bu2 yao4 zai4 zhe4 li chao3 chao nao4 nao, mei2 kan4 dao4 wo3 zai4 da3 dian4 hua4 ma?
Will you keep it down, can’t you see I’m on the phone?

Ji li gua la [adv.] to speak incomprehensibly, for example in a foreign language
[Seeing two laowai nattering away in English]
唛，他俩个在叽里呱啦些哪？我一样都听不懂。
Me4, ta1 lia2 ge4 zai4 ji1 li1 gua1 la1 xie1 na3? Wo3 yi4 yan4 dou1 ting1 bu4 dong3.
Mandarin: 哎呀，他们两个在讲些什么呀？我一点都听不懂。
Pinyin: Aiya, ta1men liang3 ge4 zai4 jiang3 xie1 shen2me ya? Wo3 yi1 dian3 dou1 ting1 bu4 dong3.
Jeez, what are they on about? I can’t understand a word of it…

Zan ba la shi [adj.] dirty (for emphasis, there is repetition: zan ba la shi shi ne)
这个鏖糟馆咋个看得起脏巴拉施施呢。怕是吃不成。
Zhe4ge4 ou1-zou1 guan3 za3ge4 kan4 de qi zan1 ba1 la1 shi1 shi1 ne. Pa4 shi4 chi1 bu4 chen2.
Mandarin: 这个小饭馆儿怎么看起来那么脏。恐怕不能在这儿吃。
Pinyin: Zhe4 ge4 xiao3 fan4 guanr3 zen3 me kan4 qi lai na4 me zang1. kong3 pa4 bu4 neng2 zai4 zher4 chi1.
This noodle restaurant is nasty, I’m afraid I can’t eat here….