Happy Chinese New Year!
I had forgotten it was the holiday and ordered some Chinese food from Cheng’s Garden tonight. As I got there, I noticed the celebratory red paper lanterns about the establishment and noticed that the place was packed with large Asian families.
Remembering the phrase as I received my order, I politely said to the stressed waiter:
“Gung hay fat choy” (Gun hay fah choy) which means, “Wishing you prosperity”.
His eyes lit up, probably because in suburban-hell America, I was most likely the only white non-Chinese speaking customer who actually new the custom.
To reward me for being so polite, I was offered a piece of sugared pineapple. Following up with a, “Xie xie” (pronounced Scheh, Scheh), he smiled and said “You’re welcome.”
I’ve always liked having handy phrases in different languages as a matter of polite discourse, but tonight, these made me feel rather nice instead of being a smart-ass in front of my co-workers!
