January is mega-stress month because it’s tax return deadline month. Every year, a crisis of some form will present itself, related to my efforts to file in time — or incur £100/day in penalty. No exception this year, of course.
Anyway, when it was finally achieved, I texted Cecilia (a Malaysian Chinese student friend) to say I’d done it, and was going out to the garden to do some weeding to celebrate. (I mentioned weeding 拔草 bá cǎo / “pull-up/-out grass” to her only because she’s a retired dentist, so it’d be good vocabulary for her to know, as 拔牙 bá yá = “pull-out tooth”.)
Cecilia: Make sure you pull the weeds, not your hair!
Me: 沒有頭髮可拔了 / 没有头发可拔了 / méiyǒu tóufà kě bá le / “not have head hair can pull anymore”
Cecilia: Ha ha, 可拔了 [kě bá le] in Malay (kepala) means head!
Triple language punning! 哇，太神了 wa, tài shén le / wow, amazing.
With students like that, I’ll be out of work soon...
(London, 2023)
Read also my blog on kepala and spoonerism:
https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2011/07/spoonerism-kepala-and-kelapa.html
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