Building Characters

My embroidered tee shirt from Building Characters has arrived.

View large image J.T. Yaung confirmed I wanted the characters daaih gwai louh (= big ghost man = big white guy), which I'd never dream of having tattooed on my skin, before production began.

It's as much a self-deprecating joke as it is a social experiment. I wore the shirt for a couple of days to gauge people's responses when they laid eyes on it.

Many folks laughed outright, with numerous others smiling or trying in vain to suppress one. Some did a double-take to confirm what they'd read. Just a few humourless drones wore poker faces; I couldn't even tell if they disliked it.

The best response I got was from two delivery boys on the mean streets of Mong Kok: both laughed, gave me the thumbs-up, and shouted in English: "Good!"

I've had a big old grin on my face all day long.

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