Yesterday, I was at lunch with a friend’s husband. It wasn’t the first time we’d met. He had treated me to lunch two times before. He’s older, but this time I wanted to pay. Toward the end of the meal he said, “Jesse, wo fu, wo fu”. In Chinese, “wo” is “I”. Sometimes people mix in some basic English for humor, so I made an allowance for what I thought was a mis-pronunciation of “full” and interpreted him as saying, “I’m full. I’m full”. I responded accordingly with “hen hao hen hao” (very good very good) and laughed at his joke. The check came and he reached for his wallet. I interjected and paid the bill. Then, later, I realized I had made a mistake. In Chinese, “fu” means “pay”. He wasn’t saying, “I’m full”. He was saying, “I’ll pay”. And I had responded with “very good very good” and a big smile. Lucky for me I paid.