san nin fai lock to you too
For most of my adult life, I have little to do with the observances and traditions of the Chinese New Year season.
I successfully broke from having to do dinners with the family or going to various households.
I have the friends over for dinners on the non-significant days so as to avoid having to rush with everyone else at the markets and stores. In all, CNY is not all that stressful for me.
Which leaves me time to nit-pick at my ang moh chek friends who try to be fashionably Chinese during this season when they really do not know the usage of the language.
I don't know if it's just me, or it's the way the CNY days fall this time that is creating a lot of confusion with the dates. For example, when the friends say 'let's get together on the 3rd', I do not know if they mean the third day of the CNY or the 3rd of February.
Worse when they use the term gor nin loosely as in 'let's get together for gor nin fan' and they do not mean eve of CNY.
I cope by clarifying everything in standard English and using the ang moh calendar; no code-switching between Chinese dialects and Singapore accented English on something as important as dinner dates.
Hey, I managed to debunk unsavoury traditions, I certainly can overcome quirks.
San Nin Fai Lock to you too.
9 comments:
Hah... we always get confused by my mom 'cos she likes to use the lunar calendar including for people's ages. Always clarify!
Keong Hee Huat Chai!
my friends really give out garbled info when they try to be too clever!
haha, the greeting so cantonese!
suziewong - i cannot manage ang moh spelling for teochew or hokkien mah.
Heh heh I'm probably one of the ang moh pai ones but don't pretend to use chinese dates to arrange meet ups.
So like the true blue kantang I'll just say Gong xi fa cai. :)
aelgtoer - dan dan ru yi !
Fatt Sai Fatt Sai! (Me is Hainanese.)
No problem for me as I don't do visiting. So sad right!
Anyway, Chu 3, not auspicious date for visiting leh! You should enlighten your ang moh friends about this! Then maybe they'll learn to be less smart alec, hahaha.
cny for me is increasingly less of relatives and more of friends too. isnt this arrangement lovely :>
happy new year!
eve+line - huat chai huat chai (i am teochew). my friends ang moh chek people lor, what to expect? hehe
edpjunkie - happy new year! and yes, much more pleasant to see friends than relatives.
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