One Chinese way of answering telephone calls

My landlord in Taiwan (1975–1976), a retired soldier who’d gone over to Taiwan with Chiang Kai-shek upon his retreat from the mainland, used to answer the telephone with, ‘喂，找谁？wèi, zhǎo shéi? / “hello, look for who” ’.  

I used to think that it was a bit unfriendly, especially since he had a loud booming voice, and that it was his own style.  Then, I recalled my second sister telephoning a friend of hers in the 60s in Singapore.  The friend’s name is Lee Diang.  

Unfortunately, in the Teochew (Cháozhōu 潮州) dialect, “who” is pronounced “dee diang”.  Equally unfortunately, both parties kept mishearing each other.

This is how the phone call went.  

Lee Diang’s father (LDF) picked up the phone with:

LDF:  (in Teochew) chway dee diang /  “look for who?”

My sister Eve misheard his “dee diang / who” and thought he said “Lee Diang” which is her friend’s name, so my sister said:

Eve:  Yes.

LDF:  What do you mean “yes”!??  I asked you “look for dee diang?”!

Eve:  Yes, I’m looking for Lee Diang.

Lee Diang’s father misheard my sister’s “Lee Diang” as “dee diang”, so he got quite cross:

LDF:  I asked you who you’re looking for, and you say you’re looking for who!  What a stupid answer!

And he slammed the phone down in frustrated anger.

(Singapore, 1960s; Taiwan, 1975–6)