Always angry and humorless, totalitarianism doesn't tolerate word plays or any sort of verbal ambiguities. Outlawing witticisms, it insists on righteous bombast. Since Vietnamese must constantly amuse each other with words, they chafed under such an inhuman regime. With Communism's slackening, the Viet tongue is regaining its playfulness and vitality, and you can see this even on shop signs. There is a Ba'c TÃ ´m [Uncle Shrimp] natural food store. It's a play on the English "Uncle Tom," of course, but a slippery, what-are-you-talking-about? dig at the country's most famous uncle, for no Vietnamese is ever called TÃ ´m [Shrimp].
In this very polluted city, there's a guesthouse named Tha' »Å¸ [Breathe].
At Club Civilize, there's a weekly gay leather night dubbed Mensay, which is a two-language triple pun, for "men say" in Vietnamese is simply, "fermenting yeast." In Vietnamese and English, it becomes "drunken men." Drunk, fermenting men in leather are saying something. Come inside to find out, I suppose.
As with everywhere else, American culture permeates Vietnam. At Cafe' Tr, there's a large, static image of Taylor Swift on the television screen. It was almost a shrine. My waitress was a stout lesbian sporting a short haircut. On the next block, five framed photos of Obama graced Bà ºn Cha' º £ HdegreesÆ ¡ng Lià ªn.
At another hole-in-the-wall coffee house, the KPop group Super Junior were prancing on the television, singing, "Mamacita, nigga, ayayaya!" Sitting on a plastic stool, the young, pony-tailed waitress was mesmerized.
Still, Vietnam is a world away from the US, so almost no one here cares about Donald Trump, transsexual bathroom privilege, Star-Spangled Banner kneeling controversy or Black Lives Matter. Attending an expensive school, a privileged, bi-racial boy saw his American teacher sob at news of Trump victory. She cried alone.
In this very polluted city, there's a guesthouse named Tha' »Å¸ [Breathe].
At Club Civilize, there's a weekly gay leather night dubbed Mensay, which is a two-language triple pun, for "men say" in Vietnamese is simply, "fermenting yeast." In Vietnamese and English, it becomes "drunken men." Drunk, fermenting men in leather are saying something. Come inside to find out, I suppose.
As with everywhere else, American culture permeates Vietnam. At Cafe' Tr, there's a large, static image of Taylor Swift on the television screen. It was almost a shrine. My waitress was a stout lesbian sporting a short haircut. On the next block, five framed photos of Obama graced Bà ºn Cha' º £ HdegreesÆ ¡ng Lià ªn.
Still, Vietnam is a world away from the US, so almost no one here cares about Donald Trump, transsexual bathroom privilege, Star-Spangled Banner kneeling controversy or Black Lives Matter. Attending an expensive school, a privileged, bi-racial boy saw his American teacher sob at news of Trump victory. She cried alone.
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