Know your roots
My job since the beginning of this year places me at my client’s place. Due to their internal security concern, the development cannot be done out of their office.
Since then, I had endured the ever evil-eyed pantry auntie, the gollum like cleaning auntie at the toilet and some of those people who works there. Those are not so bad, we just smile at one another when we walked past one another. Although my boss did introduced us to some of them formally since he used to work with them before.
Today, as I was walking towards the toilet, I overheard one of them speaking to another in a dialect. Well, I am not Hokkien or Teochew. If you throw a stone anywhere, you probably hit a few of Hokkien or Teochews before the stone even hit the floor. Anyway, I recognised that dialect as its mine so on the way out to the toilet, I conviniently asked the lady, “heh, are you a Hainanese too?”.
Ah, thats when the conversation got interesting.. turns out that there were a few other Hainanese in that office and she went on to tell me who there were after verifying from the shape of my head that I am one. And it just so happened that these people who she mentioned happened to be on the way to lunch. In the end, I got introduced to them all, including this lady who has the best set of eyes I’ve ever seen.
Its good to know your roots.
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Damn the shape of our heads. Always gives us away. But at least there are a few Hainanese hotties out there worth knowing.
ha.. you know what they say about Hainanese boys and how well they can cook..
hey … i’m a hainanese too! =) a pure hainanese somemore .. father & mother are hainanese
o.O What is the shape like? I know I’m of Mongol blood…
snowystars: do you know how to speak and listen to it?
evie: the lady told me for the guy, the back of the head is flat, not protruded out.
i know how to listen hainanese … but unfortunately can’t speak much. know abit here & there but can’t speak in one full sentence! =P
hmm.. at least better than some who can’t do both. I lost the knowhow when my grandfather died. I was told that I could argue with him in Hainanese when I was a kid. But I still know how to listen quite a bit.
wow, by the shape of the head? strange……
*Heh* Am the common Teochew. Heard Teochew girls are pretty but V fierce. Not sure bout the pretty part but think the V fierce is often quite true
i hainam-nang (dunno is correct) also..also lost the knowhow since my grandma died.
And of course, we all know that the Cantonese are the most superior dialect group of all…
(*runs away*)
aneki: yeah, strange indeed.. but not uncommon
aMuse: fierce? must be the food or something, right? I tried the pure Teochew food before, not nice, quite bland..
shorty: I think you got it right.
mb: err.. superior in what sense? running away ah?
the back of ur head is flat because ur mom make u sleep on ur back with a pillow stuck on the left and right of your head so that you cant turn ur head! i got flat head too but i’m a nyonya. According to mom, my grandmother did the above to me. both my kids have nice round protruding head. i let them sleep on their tummy at night or in the sarong during day time.
hmm. Maybe the Hainanese parents make their kids sleep this way?
I also have a flat head. I’m not hainanese. Not true la.
hainanese man has high forehead and its super round ….
Hainanese men are supposed to be more dark-skinned.
And I fully agree with mb - the Cantonese are the superior ones!!! In all senses!!!
My father is Cantonese and my mother is Hainanese… so how? Some more my mother only has one brother so very hard to test the head hypothesis.
Cantonese is superior cos, er, when you watch Rush Hour the chicken seller is speaking Cantonese. America doesn’t have Hokkiens and Teochews apparently.
Hot damn, Lynn, I knew youse were at least part-Hainanese!
Lynn, sorry about your Cantonese side.. at least its balanced out by the Hainanese..
Probably coz America’s Cantonese are mostly from Hong Kong.
Mr Miyagi: That goes both ways.
I am Cantonese on both sides, and Straits-born Chinese on my father’s side. Babas rule!
My wife is half Khek (father’s side) and half Hainanese (mother). So my kids are all messed up, hahaha!
i grew up hearing my aunts and mother exclaiming “buay lor mai” and “bong kang” all the time. =P
i’m a hainanese too..so sad i can only understand..cant speak good hainam-ue..but i speak hokkien..whatta shame..^ ^ wink wink..
sigh..damm pissed off at ppl saying one’s language is so-called supreme..every language or dialect has evolved to suit its environment..please obtain certain degree of knowledge and respect before you try to say something to make yourself stand out by stepping the others under your feet..cantonese is not supreme in all aspects..it’s just has the highest number of speaker after mandarin (of all the chinese dialects)
to everyone out there..please learn your dialect even a lilttle bit to conserve your culture..”lenyap bahasa, lenyaplah bangsa”..
i recall back the hainanese i’ve met..yeah..many of the men do have high forehead..haha..true hah..they say the hainanese guys are good looking..i absolutely agree with it..yeah..
I’m hainanese too.. can speak a few of the tongue , but willing to pay $50 for someone to teach me 2 hours of everyday hainanese words and pharses. Any takers ?
I am fully a pure haimanese but seldom speak the languege but only to my brother and sister when we meet. My children do not speak haiman and forgotten the languege after my parents passed away. One day my daughters said they have learned a few haiman works taught by my brother’s children, 1 2,ie potatoes in haimanese wording that stupid.My children said haimanese is so easy to pick up from others.