Bang chi lai

At a Chinatown supermarket the non-Chinese security guard was stopping people with plastic bags. "Bang chi lai," he told me. I stared at him blankly. "Bang chi lai," he said again. Then he tried something in what I assumed was Cantonese. A moment later I realized he was saying "bau chi lai," which loosely means "tie it together." The word I heard him using, "bang," means "help" as opposed to "bau" which could be translated as "tie" or "package" as in "package your things together."

Sitting to the guard's left, behind a sushi counter, two Chinese chefs watched the antics. An old man came in with a plastic bag. The guard said "bang chi lai;" the man turned and left the store. The chefs behind the counter turned to each other and shared a "what can you do" smile. Posted by eku at April 11, 2004 5:52 PM