Sunday, April 29, 2007

An evening in Beijing

Characters :
A - A middle-aged Singaporean chap who speaks only 2 languages, Singlish and Cantonese.

B - A cute, petite and 'stage-drama type' (she lapses into that when she wants to stress a point) who speaks 2 languages well, English and the Queen's English.

C - An Italian man who speak 2 languages well, Italian (presumably) and Mandarin.

Act 1, Scene 1 (in a pub)
C : Seems like you go to the gym alot huh?
A : No lah. I try to go lor whenever I can. But u know huh. No kaki, not shiok. U know, kaki very important. If got kaki, i arrange then go lor. Sometimes, no kaki I also go lah. Key word is Kaki lor.
C nodded his head and smiled but completely LOST. Must be wondering this Kaki must be some gorgeous Chinese chick.

Act 2, Scene 2 (in a cab)
Narrator repeated above scenario to B. Narrator and B laughed at how Singaporeans just assume the whole world understands our Singlish. C was seated in the front seat and couldnt quite make out what we were laughing at. B explained.
B : Oh! we were just laughing at how Singaporeans would LAPSE into our COLLOQUIAL terms and expect everyone to understand us.
A dazed C was totally lost now. He must be thinking Colloquial must be another gorgeous Chinese chick whose arms he can fall onto.

1 comment:

quierotango said...

What a scream!! great story.