妹仔大過主人婆 (mui1 zai2 daai6 gwo3 zyu2 jan4/2 po4) — to have one's priorities wrong (lit., "a maidservant is more imporant than one's mistress"); to treat a minor issue as a major one and vice-versa in Cantonese
muiˉ¹妹zaiˊ²仔daaiˍ₆大gwo˗₃過zyuˊ²主jan4/2人poˎ₄婆简 妹仔大过主人婆
Mandarin Pinyin: mei4 zai3 da4 guo4 zhu3 ren2 po2
Meaning of 妹仔大過主人婆
nounto have one's priorities wrong (lit., "a maidservant is more imporant than one's mistress"); to treat a minor issue as a major one and vice-versa
noundescribes a situation where a person in an inferior position seems to have more authority than his/her superior; literally 'the maid is superior to her lady boss'; acting above one's place; to get one's priorities wrong