Suspi ([info]suspi) wrote,
@ 2009-07-13 13:13:00
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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.



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[info]yuan_18
2009-07-13 11:43 pm UTC (link)
LOL Big stupid clock! A lot of the humor behind my relatives is in their attitudes. As you know, Cantonese people can be blunt to the point of rudeness, but it can be so funny when they are! It's also hard to explain to people who aren't in the culture, though. Rudeness is so frowned upon (and rightly so sometimes) that I have to explain that the intentions behind the statement were harmless.

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[info]suspi
2009-07-16 01:18 am UTC (link)
I like the bluntness.. and the exaggerated way we express everything.

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[info]mermaid_green
2009-07-14 06:10 am UTC (link)
...
hahahahaha
lol
mannn that's so great, big stupid clock, haha

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[info]puddleduck91
2009-07-16 07:15 am UTC (link)
Haha, I love those kinds of jokes; I have a Taiwanese friend who was my roommate for 2 years and she used to explain those double-meaning jokes when we watched dramas and tell me random funny metaphors in Mandarin. Witty stuff for sure. =D I wish I could learn Chinese but it's super hard. I didn't know you spoke Cantonese, would you say you're pretty fluent? =)

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