A Useful Cantonese Phase

Alice was born in Hong Kong and brought up in France. She met her boyfriend Jacopo in the US. Jacopo is from Italy, a small town near Venice. He said that before the new water management works in Venice were done, his town was flooded every time the dams were opened to ease the flood in Venice. He speaks French, Greek, English, Italian and Spanish.

One evening in a pub, he told me that Alice always said "lain-hoi" in the dream, and asked me what that meant. I gave it a thought for a second, and said, "Fuck off." He giggled wickedly and said, "I like that... kakaka.."

Now "lain-hoi" is Jacopo's favorite greeting to say when he sees me.