One or two decades ago, any market square will surely have a Chinese medicine man hawking his goods comprising traditional oils, pills and whatnots. He would be calling out in a number of Chinese dialects so that his message went across to a wider population. This brand of medicine-man is no longer seen in current times.
The following is a re-enactment of what used to be the norm decades ago - though the translation errors were part of the comedy act. This is hilarious if you understand Hokkien, Cantonese and Hakka, three common Chinese dialects used here in Malaysia. Enjoy..
A good one..cant stop laffing..To come to think about it have not been seeing these Medicine-man on the streets or I have not been going out for too long..which is which? haha.
ReplyDeleteNow on some topic about human nature..From the beginning no body will ever step forward to buy the medicine until someone makes a bold step forward to purchase and the Medicine-man would shout loudly about the first purchase and all of a sudden the public will follow suit digging into their pockets to buy. Heard that becoz of the this true *pai seh-ness* shyness of the public the Medicine-man got an accomplice to act as a purchaser and it works all the time. How true? Bananaz's Beleaf It Or Not!!!
ReplyDeletehahaha, this is a good one, i like that.. found out recently there are quite some clips in dialects in youtube huh.. are they becoming popular languages now?? haha~~ :D
ReplyDeleteBananaz, perhaps they still exist in small towns where there are more senior citizens and less technology.
ReplyDeleteSmart gimmick, that one and human nature being such, we do fall for it.
SK, glad you enjoyed it too. Hokkien is a popular dialect on videos. In fact, there even are romanised Hokkien blogs and Cantonese ones too and they are a great source for giggles..
ReplyDeleteI do see them in our pasar malam here from time to time. Ha :D
ReplyDeleteT, cool! What a gem from the past just like those fortune-tellers with their bird in a cage and a pack of cards.
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