Unfiltered Story #177690

My father, mother and I were out at a local Chinese restaurant that we’ve gone to frequently over the years. I’m a sophomore in college, and getting a minor in Mandarin Chinese. This is my ninth year studying the language formally (6th grade through 12th as well as in college) and that’s not including the informal study of the language I did before I started in 6th grade. My father studied Mandarin some 30+ years ago when he was in college, and his pronunciation is always wrong. This time, he’s screaming at me about how I don’t know how to pronounce “Mei Zhou” (roughly sounds like May Joe. He’s pronouncing it May Show). The waitress comes up, after having heard the whole exchange, to take our order.

Waitress (in a relatively thick Chinese accent): Are you folks ready to order?
Me: Yes, I’ll have the Sichuan green beans and the sweet and sour fish.
Mother: I’ll have (whatever she ordered)
Father: I’ll have the Meizhou pork buns (again, pronounced May Show).
Waitress: Alright, so I have one Sichuan green beans, one sweet and sour fish, and one MeiZHOU pork bun (she puts extra emphasis on the fact that ‘zhou’ is pronounced the way that I have been pronouncing it the whole time)
Father: *blushing at this point* U-uh, yes…
Waitress: *turns to me* You are very good at Chinese. Keep up the good work.