Bluff-bluff…

I called Ming the other day, to get her opinion on something…

Me :
“Ok…. Hypothetically right…. If I….”

Ming :
“WAIT!!!!!!!! I just spent the past 2 hours baby- talking to my sons. Please…. Nothing more than 5 letters when you speak to me now… my brain hasn’t re-adjusted…”

Me :
“Hmmm…..”

*ponders*

“Ok… bluff-bluff right…. If I decided to…”

I didn’t really get to ask her for her opinion that day. Cause she burst out into hysterical laughter!!!!

What?

What’s wrong with “bluff-bluff”?

Didn’t we ALL use it when we were kids playing games of pretence?

Kid # 1:
“Bluff-bluff we are Eskimos living in the North pole. So it’s bluff-bluff very cold. This blanket is our bluff-bluff igloo. Now you must bluff-bluff go hunt for polar bears.”

Kid # 2 :
“Then you must bluff-bluff start a fire. (Reaches for an orange t-shirt). Ok. Bluff-bluff this t-shirt is the fire.”

Said kids will then pretend to shiver like it’s 300° below and crouch around the “fire”.


You get the drift?

Ming didn’t. Cause apparently, around HER neck of the woods, kids didn’t say “bluff-bluff”, they used “Say-say”…. So:-

Kid # 1:
“Say-say we are Eskimos living in the North pole. So it’s say-say very cold. Say-Say this blanket is our igloo. Now you must go hunt for say-say polar bears.”

Kid # 2 :
“Then you must say-say start a fire. (Reaches for an orange t-shirt). Ok. Say-say this t-shirt is the fire.”

Said kids will then pretend to shiver like it’s 300° below and crouch around the “fire”.


Hmmm….. I thought…. INTERESTING….

So we decided to analyze it.

We deduced :-

1. When saying “say-say”, the kids were really mimicking “Let’s say” which is commonly used by adults to hypothesize. Kids being kids, had listened to the adults and had simplified “let’s say” to the babytalk version of it. Hence “say-say”.

We both agreed this was very clever indeed for 3.30pm on a weekday afternoon and gave ourselves a pat on the back.

Then, we tested her “Say-say is really ‘Let’s say’” theory on my “bluff-bluff”.

We deduced :-

2. Didn’t work. Cause try as we might, we couldn’t imagine what “bluff-bluff” was mimicking. We tried to crack our heads to think of a phrase, commonly used to hypothesize, that “bluff-bluff” could have come from?

We tried and tried, and came up with nothing.


Then Ming, in a flash of brilliance shouted “EUREKA!”

Before I could let her know that “Eureka” doesn’t sound anything like “bluff-bluff” she said :-

“It’s HOKKIEN!!!!”

Me :
“Huh? Isn’t "bluff-bluff" English?

Ming :-
“NO! It’s direct translation from HOKKIEN!!!! Think about it!”

So I thunk about it…

AND BURST OUT LAUGHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, “bluff-bluff” is direct translation of “kay-kay” which is Hokkien speak for… well…. “bluff-bluff”.

*Sigh*

Only in Klang….. Only in Klang.

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