Talking about being a Racist…

Just as I was chatting with my HK mate how racist we can get..

On Roland’s blog he posted all the halirious ‘classic’ English from Apple Daily (a Hong Kong tabloid-like mainstream newspaper, like the Sun in the UK)

Do you big me ？（ 你 大 我 呀 ？ ）
Do you think me didn’t arrive? （ 你 當 我 無 到 ？ ）
Eight woman, you are good! （ 八 婆 ， 你 好 ！ ）
I give you some colour to see. （ 我 畀 顏 色 你 睇 ！ ）
Laugh die me. （ 笑 死 我 。 ）
Peter piano piano green go to school. （ 彼 得 「 擒 擒 青 」 返 學 。 ）
Today I was very black son. （ 今 日 我 好 黑 仔 。 ）
What the ghost are you talk? （ 你 講 乜 鬼 ？ ）
What water are you? （ 你 係 乜 水 ？ ）
I saw a pork chop. （ 我 見 到 件 豬 扒 呀 ！ ）

LOL for those who read English/Chinese plus speak Cantonese, I think you are probably choking, like what I just did… . Even though these expressions are extremely culturally idiosyncratic, they nonetheless show how rich Cantonese as a language is. For example, Hong Kong Chinese men call unattractive women ‘pork chop’, and ‘piano piano green’ means someone doing something hastily, and green denotes that someone’s face turns pale because they’re panicking. And of course ‘Eight’ is an adjective used to describe people who are nosy. So no need for me to translate what ‘Eight woman’ is [lah].
Well, as the Chinese cultural critic Lung YinTai puts it, language is a key to another world and culture. I completely agree

Updates:  You case you guys haven’t see this, you’ve gotta check out this translated food menu in a random hotel in China… See in yourself.