A Little Trouble?

In Cantonese, a teapot is called 'charpou' and in HK film dialogue it is common to refer to 'trouble' as 'charpou'. It has to do with Chinese characters being unable to copy English pronounciation.

Nowadays, I tend to watch Mandarin news on NTV 7 at 9.30pm, after watching The Legend of Bruce Lee on 8TV, to try and absorb a bit of Mandarin, just like me watching Taiwanese serials to improve my Taiwanese Hokien. It is easier for one to accommodate the other in communication.

Watching Mandarin news on tv or listening to radio, our PM and DPM's names are often mentioned. For Abdullah, it is 'Ah Tu Lah' (not Ah Tu Lan which means angry in Hokien) and Najib becomes 'Nah Chee' which I cannot help but think of the Hokien meaning of 'sticking tongue out'! Nazri becomes 'Nah Ser Li' and so on. It is necessary to know the Chinese versions because when we communicate with Chinese educated people, some would not know the romanized names.