Today's picture shows my beautiful friend Xiao (Small) Ling. She is a native of Shanghai, living in Mill Valley. I get to practice my Shanghai Dialect with her, though she keeps chiding me "they don't say that any more, that's old-fashioned"! No surprise. I left Shanghai fifty-nine years ago and, while my retention of the dialect is fairly good, the Shanghainese have had the audacity to make changes! For example, the common greeting was "have you eaten rice?", which actually meant "have you eaten yet?" The required answer was "I have eaten". Just like our answer to "how are you?" is "fine!" Well, prosperity has obviated that little formality, and now the Chinese say "Ni hao?" - "You well?", the only Mandarin words Westerners learn, no matter how long they vacation in China.
I regret to tell you bachelors, that Ling is married and has two great kids!
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