Okay,…
They say only seven percent of communication is verbal.
In China, that seven percent makes one hundred percent of difference.
Take for instance, last week at the open air market. I wanted to buy meat and couldn’t tell if a ground selection was beef or pork.
So, I did what any sane person would do.
I started to moo. Then oink.
I found out quickly that a moo isn’t a moo in Chinese. And an oink isn’t an oink. But a white person imitating Porky Pig in China is spectacle.
Who’d ever thunk that a moo isn’t the universal sound for beefy bovines. Definitely not the lady holding the meat cleaver behind the counter. She thought I was nuts.
Cock-a-doodle-doo isn’t universal either. In Korean and Chinese, the feather covered morning alarm clock goes: cokyo, like toyko with a “K”.
Since body language and making animal sounds are about as useful in China as an American Express card, I call on my Pictionary skills when shopping. If you don’t have command of the Chinese language, you use the next best thing: an ink pen.
Like the time I saw this tasty selection.
I don’t even think Julia Child could tell was this is.
Being lost for words, I sketched a rabbit and showed it to the woman behind the counter.
No.
Next, I drew a rotisserie style rodent…
Luckily, that was strike number two.
Then I picassoed another poultry selection: chicken.
Nada.
I handed over my pen and the woman drew a mystery bird with a bill.
I think she doodled a duck.
However, when after examingng the crispy selection, I think she was involved in a little switch and bate.
The moral of this blog is?
When in doubt, don’t oink. Doodle.
Here are more tasty selections that uh don’t need explanation.