MELONCHOLIC

I almost laughed my head off reading Michael X. Ferraro’s article on Hong Kong action movie subtitles (“Eee-Yow! That Translation Hurt!,” Aug. 2).

I especially appreciated “You bastard, try this melon!” In colloquial Cantonese, “dead” sounds like “melon.” So, “Bastard! You are dead!” is turned into a faux pas by a Mandarin-speaking translator. But, should this letter be translated into Chinese by a subtitler, “laughing my head off” might cause a few chuckles too.

SAM FUNG

Newport Coast