敲瓜无国界！

一中两外锵锵三人行 今日话题：敲瓜无国界！ Lincoln: Now, Wu You, there’s been some odd behaviour with some watermelons. Apparently something’s going on and watermelons are involved. Yoyo: Not odd. It is quite useful and it is creative. So, a picture of a notice in a supermarket has gone viral online these days. The notice is in the language of Italian, and it is stuck in a crate of watermelons which reads: “Please stop knocking on the watermelon, they will not respond to it. Lincoln: Cheeky, very cheeky. Why is this a thing that someone would have to do? Yoyo: To know whether it is ripe enough or not Lincoln: Can you demonstrate this for us, please? Yoyo: OK. The special technique is very interesting and useful, because sometimes people do not know what the right sound is. Now I have a special technique to tell you guys. So first of all, you knock on it, and if it sounds like [knocks on table] it is raw, and if it is a deep and clear sound, it is ripe. Lincoln: No, no, you have to make a deep and clear sound, right now! Yoyo: There’s another way to test it. Lincoln: What is the other way? Yoyo: You have your own body, and if you knock on your forehead like this [knocks on forehead], it is raw. And then you can knock on your chest [knocks on chest], it is ripe. Lincoln: Can you demonstrate that one more time, for the listeners? I don’t want you to hurt yourself, I just want to make sure. Yoyo: The ripe watermelon sounds like this: [knocks on chest] Lincoln: Can you try that, Michael? Michael: OK, so here we go. This is the ripe watermelon: [knocks on chest]. Yoyo: So that is the knock on your chest, and then to knock on your belly: [knocks on belly]. This is over-ripe. Lincoln: Tremendous. Absolutely remarkable, Michael. Michael: Are you going to make me stand up and punch my belly? Lincoln: Do you want to? I feel like you want me to! Michael: I think that’s what you were angling for, Lincoln! Lincoln: OK, so what happened here is these Chinese people, presumably living in Italy, they’ve gone and they’ve done this, they’ve knocked on the watermelons. Yoyo: It’s not specially targeting the Chinese people, or else the board would be written in Chinese. Michael: But, Wu You, the person who took this photo which went viral was a Chinese person. Yoyo: And then he posted this online and it quickly went viral, especially in China. Lincoln: Well, I’ll put it to you, Wu You, that I think this is actually might be aimed at Chinese people, because presumably the Italian shop owners wouldn’t know how to write that sign in Chinese. Yoyo: It is not especially just in China, but also, you can see, in Russia, a popular Russian cartoon called “Nu, pogodi” included watermelon knocking as part of an episode, and also in Japan, there has been this kind of video telling you the skills of knocking on the watermelon, and also in India, so this is not simply just in China, but also it is a universal skill, and watermelons in Italy must be very lonely, because they haven’t been knocked before. Michael: There’s a lot of comments here implying that watermelons are somehow sentient beings, and have their own personalities. Lincoln: Yeah, imbuing the watermelons with a lot of feelings, you know. I’ve seen this, maybe you’ve seen this at a cricket [match], Michael – people wearing watermelon hats. Michael: I’ve seen that – I’ve seen a picture of someone doing that on the tube here in Beijing, actually. It went viral about a year or so ago, and a lot of Chinese net users were absolutely terrified by it. [Lincoln: Really?] Yeah. I think the police actually came and stopped him and he was like: “What? I’m just wearing a watermelon on my head!” Lincoln: You know, it keeps you cool. Michael: But you’re going to get watermelon juice everywhere. There’s still going to be some residue, isn’t there? Lincoln: I don’t think so. Yoyo: And then someone might knock on his “door”. Michael: Well, exactly!