And so I have a Hokkien Face
I always wonder why many people whom I have met the first time - like hawkers, shop owners or clients always seem to know that I can speak Hokkien and like to converse with me in that dialect.My generation is the generation that mostly speaks English (not even Mandarin OMG) and not many people of my generation know how to speak Hokkien. But somehow, people seems to always figure out that I know how to speak that language.
For instance, my friend and I were queuing up at a hawker stall to order food. The hawker would ask my friend in English (mostly quite broken anyway) what he wants and when it comes to my turn, I will be asked in Hokkien. And this kind of incidents have happened quite a lot of times.
One fine day I just couldn't bear with it anymore and decided to ask this auntie who sells Hokkien Mee. As usual I was asked by her what I want to order in Hokkien and I responded by asking how she knows I can speak Hokkien.
"Aiya, see your face can know liao lah. You confirm is those not very educated one and always run on the street one la. If not I speak English to you meh?"
Our Hokkien Mee Auntie is very the funny. I am not so amused though.
I just smiled sheepishly as I waited for my Hokkien Mee. I thought that would have been the end of our conversation but she left me a parting shot before I left.
"Somemore you also don't look very young. Uncles your age all can speak Hokkien one mah."
So me = uneducated, run on the streets(hooligans??), old-looking.
You can be damn sure that is the last time I will ever eat her Hokkien Mee again.
posted by malmoncolo @ 8:48 AM
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