Pre-School Talk

Went to dinner straight from college at 8pm just now. Sat next to a table with three ladies and a kid. The kid was sulking and sitting with his side to the back of the chair facing me. Then I overheard the following:


Mother: What colour you want? You want black pau?

Son: Yes.


Not long after a friend of his mother came over. Greeted them then asked the boy:

Mother's friend: Can give me eat?


* All my life I have never known of the existance of a black coloured pau. The paus that I know of are char siew pau, kaya pau, tausar pau, tai pau.

Sometimes it is better to converse with the kids in the toungue that you are familiar with rather than teaching them the wrong command of language. What both adults are doing are literal translation from the hockien dialect. More over there is no such thing as black pau. Imagine the kid when he's big enough to order his own food "Black pau".