Streetside Symphony
Mar 19th, 2008 by Michael Max
There is something of a cat meow in the way Taiwanese girls say 歡迎光臨, it is as irresistible to the ears as ice cream on a soft breeze summer night. It seeps into the ears like spilled honey, the audio equivalent of the fragrance of lily.
Flocks of scooters that roar a turbulent surf.
The emotional tags of oh’s ah’s and ug’s tacked onto the end of sentences.
The jet engine blast that fires night market woks.
Taiwan’s rich commotion of sound paints aural pictures as deliciously round and thick and rich as a brimming bowl of beef noodle soup.
Your description is so lively that I could hear the 欢迎光临 cat meow myself
I think it is irresistible because we don’t hear it in the US.
Yes, that might be the part of the reason. It is a sound that is so deeply associated with one place and the experiences there.