No coffee, no workee - meaning

no coffee, no workee

What exactly does this expression mean? And how do you pronounce it?

Solution 1:

It may be a take-off on an expression that had been used to sound like someone at a Chinese laundry..."no tickee, no washee!", which meant that without a ticket, you could not pick up your laundry. So "no coffee, no workee" means that without the coffee, you'll get no work.

This original expression that mimics Chinese Pidgin English, spoken by early Chinese immigrants, gained further notoriety after a 1921 silent movie was released, entitled, "No Tickee, No Shirtee".

Solution 2:

"-ie" or "-y" is sometimes used as a suffix to denote childish speech. In this case the same sound has been written as "-ee" in order to match the ending of "coffee".

So it just means "Without coffee I can't work." But expressed in a childish way to imply reduced ability to think due to lack of caffeine.

Solution 3:

It's a play on words. Coffee is usually pronounced 'coffy' but here, to emphasis the play, both words would have the 'ee' ending as in 'feet'.

Used by those who cannot function without their coffee, it means:

Give me a cup of coffee or I'm not going to work for you

Or, more politely

I'm just going to make myself a cup of coffee and then I'll be happy to do some work