Randallisms

A gentle reader has asked why since I have a section on the site called Mabelisms that I don't have one called Randallisms, or as she amended, Vandalisms (ha ha): a place where my Cantonese flubs would reside.

The problem is there aren't any enough mistakes to justify such a page. As far as I can recall only one person has ever informed me of a silly goof, which occurred in a restaurant not long after I'd relocated to Hong Kong. I was pouring tea for everyone at the table, and for some reason I've since forgotten I punctuated each pour with "Yāt bun", which means one-half. Or so I thought.

I'd gotten the tones wrong and thus was saying "Yahtbún", which means Japan. Picture it if you will: me offering each diner a cup of Japan.

It was a lesson in the importance of learning to get the tones right, of which I've been diligent ever since. That's not to say that I don't mess up, as plenty have folks have corrected me when my pronunciation was off, it's just that to my knowledge I haven't made a serious faux pas, or if I have, no one has burst out laughing or stared at me mouth agape in horror.

And I would hope no one would just let me walk away from a blunder to repeat it elsewhere ... unless the lack of reaction is part of a secret game that Hong Kongers play with foreigners.

One that involves hidden cameras.

Lord, please don't let me end up on YouTube.

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