Posted by Tim on November 12, 1998 at 10:39:27:
In Reply to: Football, Mangoes, Missee Lee and Sandwiches posted by Robert Dilley on November 11, 1998 at 15:33:25:
I'd make a distinction between:
a) Missee Lee's relentless substitution of 'l' for 'r': as Robert and Ian point out, this is highly improbable. There are dialects of Chinese that do not show a clear 'l/r' distinction, but this is as likely to result in the substitution of 'r' for 'l' as vice versa (cf Japanese).
b) The use of Chinese pidgin, the 'trade language' formerly spoken by and to sailors and others in ports such as Canton (Guangzhou) and Shanghai. Examples in Missee Lee are 'Him numpa one one velly bad man' and 'Bimebye', and in Secret Water (by Commander Walker, just returned from China) 'Quick time topside all that'. Other pidgins such as Papua-New Guinea pidgin flourish, but Chinese pidgin is now virtually extinct. However, from what descriptions I have been able to find, AR's examples are highly plausible.