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LANGUAGE HUMOR AT ITS FINEST
Making yourself more proficient in English need not be a drag. You can actually speed up the learning process and make it fun by generously lacing it with humor—but preferably the best that the English language can offer.
In this new section, apart from giving a fixed slot to our weekly “In a Lighter Vein” pop-out humor piece in the Forum homepage, we have put together the finest of those weekly humor pop-ups since the Forum started. The best of them—collected from various sources on the web and sent in by friends—are all here, posted in the Forum under the following headings: Wordplay, On the Job, Student and School Life, and Miscellany.
So if you missed any of the best of the Forum’s weekly humor pop-ups, you can enjoy and savor them again and again here—and better still, share them with your friends!
Click here to go to the board (requires registration to post)
Wacky Phonetics: English translated into Chinese in a jiffy
Just in case you are going to China or meeting with Chinese business associates or friends sometime soon, here are quick sample lessons in translating English into Chinese. They definitely won’t make you score points on felicity of thought, but they surely would elicit wild guffaws for your phonetic astuteness.
| English Phrase | Chinese Translation |
It’s very dark in here. |
Wai So Dim? |
Small Horse |
Tai Ni Po Ni |
See me A.S.A.P. |
Kum Hia Nao |
Stupid Man |
Dum Gai |
Are you harboring a fugitive? |
Hu Yu Hai Ding? |
Has your flight been delayed? |
Hao Long Wei Ting? |
Your price is too high! |
No Bai De Thing! |
Did you go to the beach? |
Wai Yu So Tan? |
I bumped into a coffee table. |
Ai Bang Mai Ni |
I think you need a facelift. |
Chin Tu Fat |
I am not guilty. |
Wai Hang Mi? |
That was an unauthorized execution. |
Lin Ching |
This is a tow away zone. |
No Pah King |
Do you know the lyrics to the Macarena? |
Wai Yu Sing Dum Song? |
You are not very bright. |
Yu So Dum |
I thought you were on a diet. |
Wai Yu Mun Ching? |
I got this for free. |
Ai No Pei |
Please, stay a while longer. |
Wai Go Nao? |
Our meeting was scheduled for next week. |
Wai Yu Kum Nao |
They have arrived. |
Hia Dei Kum |
Stay out of sight. |
Lei Lo |
He’s cleaning his automobile. |
Wa Shing Ka |
—From English Language Smart Words
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