Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A twist of words

It is the Chinese New Year, and there are many common phrases in Chinese to wish each other well, such as 恭喜发财,新年快乐,万事如意,etc. But with the economy as it is now, there are some phrases that people try to avoid. I learnt this from my uncle.

心想事成(xin1 xiang3 shi4 cheng2) because it sounds like 薪饷四成(xin1 xiang3 shi4 cheng2), which means "40% salary".
财源滚滚(cai2 yuan2 gun3 gun3) because it sounds like 裁员滚滚(cai2 yuan2 gun3 gun3), which means "retrenchment rolling and rolling".

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