| Suspi ( @ 2009-07-13 13:13:00 |
Insight to Cantonese Humor
My mom gave me this great gem in the car on the way to work. I was telling her about Fancypants James and how he spends a lot of money.
My mom said that "He has a lot of money" with the italics being an implied statement. She then says "or maybe his dad has a lot of money", but depending on the context, it could mean "or maybe his dad he has a lot of".
It sounds awkward in English, but she basically implied that James' mom is skanky and sleeps around a lot and therefore, he has a lot of dads to give him money. She was just joking and just said it to point out the (usually vulgar) humor in Cantonese, and I'll have to agree that's pretty witty. I can understand why some people rather shoot themselves in the head than to learn Chinese. There's so much contextual meanings or double meanings behind everything that's being said.
My favorite is still Big Ben Tower. "Ben" can be pronounced as "Stupid", so my dad kept pointing out the "Big Stupid Clock" to me in England.
My mom gave me this great gem in the car on the way to work. I was telling her about Fancypants James and how he spends a lot of money.
My mom said that "He has a lot of money" with the italics being an implied statement. She then says "or maybe his dad has a lot of money", but depending on the context, it could mean "or maybe his dad he has a lot of".
It sounds awkward in English, but she basically implied that James' mom is skanky and sleeps around a lot and therefore, he has a lot of dads to give him money. She was just joking and just said it to point out the (usually vulgar) humor in Cantonese, and I'll have to agree that's pretty witty. I can understand why some people rather shoot themselves in the head than to learn Chinese. There's so much contextual meanings or double meanings behind everything that's being said.
My favorite is still Big Ben Tower. "Ben" can be pronounced as "Stupid", so my dad kept pointing out the "Big Stupid Clock" to me in England.