Ōo-á kńg!?

 

        Ok, this comic above described a common situation when people is learning a new language, they tend to link the pronunciation with their native phonemes.  In those panels, the little girl said, "cheese".  However, her brother used the similar Chinese phrase, literally go die.  By doing so he lured his sister to sound like she was telling some bad words.

        Now, back to the topic.  Anyway, today there is an similar interesting event happened to me which was also about the phoneme confusion.  As usual, my brother rode a motorcycle and took me to buy the lunch.  Usually, we would go to a cafeteria features various Chinese cuisines.  The two automatic glass doors shifted to the opposite sides to welcome dinners who were ready to fill their rumbling tommies.  Percolating aroma was weaving a appetizing gossamer as we walked in.  Illuminated by the warm light coming from the lamps above, those colorful delicacies glowed to life.  Browsing through the long metal lukewarm table, we were trying to make up our mind which one we should pick up.

        I loaded my bento box with carrots shavings stir-fried with eggs, as well as sautéd green beans.  Suddenly, I spotted numerous fried sticks.  "What is it?", I asked.  " ô-á kńg(fried oyster stick)", one of the clerks replied.  Immediately, I finished my lunch box while my brother raised his eyebrow at me.

        "Oh!!  God!!  I was cheated!!!  What is it?", I shouted when I took the first bite at the stick.  " ô-á kńg", my brother gapped at my reaction then asked," What's wrong?"  I said restlessly, "the clerk said it is ōo-á kńg(fried taro stick)!!!  He cheated me!!!"  My brother smirked at me and calmly said, "it is you who got the wrong information.  The thing you eat is ô-á kńg; not ōo-á kńg."  Later, we both burst into laughing until our stomach aching.