ਚੱਕ ਦੇ ਫੱਟੇ

Chak de phatte (ਚੱਕ ਦੇ ਫੱਟੇ) is a boisterous Punjabi cry of encouragement, meaning give it your all, go all out. It is shouted before a match, a performance or any big effort, and at celebrations too, to lift a person's spirits and fill them with fresh energy.

What does chak de phatte mean in Punjabi?

Taken word by word, chak means lift or pick up, and phatte are wooden planks or boards, but nobody hearing the phrase pictures carpentry. As an idiom it means go all out. Preply's guide to Punjabi slang places it among the phrases of enthusiasm and encouragement and translates it exactly that way, and Talkpal's slang list gives Chakde phatte as Give it your all. It is the Punjabi way of saying: no holding back now, put everything into this.

When do people say chak de phatte?

People say it at the moment effort begins: before a sports match, an exam, a stage performance or a hard day's work, and again when the effort succeeds. It works as a team shout, a friend's push from the sideline, and a toast at a celebration. The phrase is so woven into Punjabi exuberance that when bhangra singer Malkit Singh received his MBE, he joked to reporters that he might greet the Queen with a boisterous chak de phatte, using, as sikhchic put it, a popular Punjabi phrase typifying the exuberance of the language.

How is chak de phatte different from balle balle?

Both are cries of Punjabi joy, but they fire at different moments. Balle balle celebrates what is already happening: the dance is on, the news is good, the moment has arrived. Chak de phatte points forward: it is the push before and during the effort, the shout that sends a player onto the field or a singer onto the stage. One applauds, the other launches, and a good Punjabi celebration usually needs both, in that order.