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| Lobster Bib |
Warning, spoilers below!
There is much debate and confusion over what Eddie Morra (played by Bradley Cooper) said in Mandarin to the Chinese waiter at the end of Limitless (2011). Apparently, Bradley Cooper's Mandarin is largely unintelligible to Mandarin speakers, but after studying many comments online, reviewing Chinese subtitles, and researching Mandarin vocabulary, it is becoming clear that Eddie Morra and the waiter were joking with each other using two plays on words.
The problem is--due to cultural differences--people who understand Mandarin probably do not understand the full intent of the humorous exchange, and people who might understand the full intent of the exchange do not understand Mandarin. Of course, the poor Mandarin pronunciations are compounding the misunderstandings dramatically. The result is that no one--seemingly in the entire world--is getting the joke.
Here is an approximation of what was most likely said at the end of Limitless. (Note to all the Mandarin speakers: This is not a verbatim translation, which would be awkward in English. This is an interpretation of Mandarin that native English speakers should be able to understand properly in context.)
Eddie Morra: "I will have noodles, two scallion pancakes, and lobster with no MSG (weijing)."
Chinese Waiter: "But a scarf (weijin) will protect your clothes."
Eddie Morra: "But it won't help with my dirty hands."
The first joke here is in the Mandarin pun. The Mandarin word for MSG (weijing) is similar to a Mandarin word for scarf (weijin), which could conceivably be used to describe a lobster bib. (Note: In America, people commonly wear bibs while eating lobsters to protect their clothes from all of the juices that shoot out when cracking open shellfish. Americans sometimes refuse to wear the lobster bibs, because the bibs look tacky.) When Morra asked to have lobster with no MSG, the waiter joked with him using a play on the words for MSG/scarf (weijing/weijin), explaining he should not refuse the scarf (lobster bib) because it will protect his clothes. Morra then joked the bib will do nothing for his dirty hands.
This was a witty response to the waiter, but it has a deeper meaning. "Dirty hands" is a very common expression in English that insinuates one has figuratively gotten one's hands dirty from doing dirty deeds in the past. The irony here is that Morra was about to enter politics, and he had to do some dirty deeds in the past to rise to his level of success. Yes, Morra can eat his expensive dinner and enjoy his wonderful life, but he will be doing so with dirty hands. This joke revealed Morra was happy with his life but was not denying his considerable flaws and unfair advantages.
If that is truly what was said between the Chinese waiter and Morra, it was a good note on which to end Limitless. It is very unfortunate the director, Neil Burger, did not force Bradley Cooper to practice speaking Mandarin phonetically until he spoke the words clearly. If properly executed, that final exchange could have been an excellent moment in the movie and a clever conclusion to an interesting plot.
By the way, excuse the social commentary here, but Bradley Cooper is being ridiculed extensively for his mispronunciations of Manadrin words. Is it not strange people feel perfectly comfortable attacking Bradley Cooper for botching Mandarin, but making fun of Jet Li's English mispronunciations is considered racist? That is a very odd double standard.
