Tomboy

I found out, I'm pretty good in written Hokkien, but not in the spoken language.

Eh?

A friend - let's just call him Ah Beng since I'm the designated Ah Lian between the two of us - and I have cultivated this rather stupid habit of communicating in Hokkien - over MSN.

It all started with a simple greeting:

Ah Beng: Oei!

Ah Lian: Simi taiji?

... and the ball started rolling from there.

We would communicate in complete Hokkien sentences. For instance:

Ah Beng: Le si Hokkien lang?

Ah Lian: Wa eh lao pei si Hokkien lang, lao bu si kong hu lang.

...

Ah Beng: Le eh Hokkien wei bei pai leh.

Ah Lian: Bor lah, wa eh hiao sia, bei hiao kong.

...


When Ah Beng met Ah Lian, he said, "You really sound like you can speak Hokkien very well like a Lian over MSN. Eh, speak leh."

I hesitated and resisted, but in the end, succumbed to pressure and spoke a mere few words.

Ah Beng said, "Wahlau... your Hokkien sounds really bad man. Stop it."

See, I told you. Wa eh hiao sia, bei hiao kong.


Some call me 'tomboy', some call me 'ah lian'.

Sometimes, I even call myself 'tomboy', and sometimes, 'ah lian' too.

It's not that I'm very proud of being described as such, but there's not much of a point trying to deny what I might actually be, is there?

There's no running away from who I am and how I wanna be, and let's face it, I can never be as demure as the girl-next-door, much as I think I want to be.

I can be wearing a full skirt, lipstick and pretty earrings, but I'll be hitching up my skirt and striding over big steps, I'll be wearing my Nikes and a trucker cap, and I'll be laughing out loud and heartily at things that tickle me ever slightly.

I'll never be able to walk in three-inch heels and giggle with my mouth closed.

In any case, I'd rather be a 'tomboy' than a 'gu niang'. Anytime.