Amy: Nora, how long have you lived in Kaohsiung?

Nora: I've lived here for three years.

Amy: Have you ever been to Meinong?

Nora: No, I haven't. Why do you ask?

Amy: Patty and I are planning to go there next week.

Do you want to join us?

Nora: Thanks for inviting me, but I have to ask my parents f irst.

Amy: Sure.

Nora: What are you going to do there?

Amy: My cousin is getting married,

so I want to buy him a pair of oil paper umbrellas.

They make great wedding gifts because the words for "oil paper" sound like "having kids" in Hakka.

Nora: Umbrellas? We don't usually give umbrellas as gifts.

Amy: Why not?

Nora: Because the word for "umbrella" sounds like "separate" in ourlanguage.

Amy: I've never heard of this. What should I do?

Nora: Well, just to play it safe, you can ask your cousin to pay you one dollar for the umbrellas.

Amy: Why?

Nora: This way, he buys the umbrellas from you, so they are not gifts.

Amy: That's smart. I'll ask him for one dollar.