A DISCUSSION ABOUT TEAPOTS

Years ago my ex wondered why I'm just a ham sap lo in Cantonese. The answer to this is complex. Firstly, she's suspicious of people speaking Cantonese, especially white men, and probably quite right about that; I also am suspicious of people speaking Cantonese, because it's the best language for being a smuggler, grave robber, and outrageous lawbreaker in. As Hong Kong movies abundantly prove. Never-the-less, Chow Yunfat is one handsome devil, and comes across as extremely likeable, even admirable. I too wish to serve fried rice in a New York restaurant with aplomb to criminal Caucasians. Wah, hou yeh!

Of course, in 'Diary Of A Big Man', he ended up looking frazzled.
All part of an innocent chain of events and mistakes.
As any man might. Understandably.


嘩，小姐，妳好靚呀！


Secondly, she's mistaken. I cannot possibly sound like a ham sap lo, as I am by nature a mild and well-behaved fellow, even in a conspiratorial language. Which is why the ladies at a bakery think I'm a quite a gentleman, and unobjectionable to the point of boring.

Lastly, I sound like I'm up to something in any language.
Which is probably why I quarrel in Dutch.
They suspect something.


You know, many Chinese people suspect men talking to women of being ham sap lo, especially if the fellows are Cantonese or white. That's just the way things are.

To be perfectly honest, many (probably most) men are not ham sap, because it leads to complications. We like our simple self-indulgent lives, and as Chow Yunfat says in 'An Autumn's Tale, "nui yan jan hai chaa bou": women are a teapot.

That makes a lot more sense in Cantonese.
Borrowing from English.
茶煲



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