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Hang dai!

Hang dai!

I'm one episode from the finale of Dead­wood, and I'm feel­ing pre­ma­ture­ly nos­tal­gic for the pan­tomime con­ver­sa­tions between the Can­tonese-speak­ing Wu and Eng­lish-speak­ing Al Swearen­gen. These "con­ver­sa­tions" gen­er­al­ly involve fran­tic sketch­ing with char­coal, oaths unprint­able in a fam­i­ly blog, and very lit­tle Eng­lish. They tend to con­clude with the dec­la­ra­tion "hang dai!" which means "broth­ers," and rec­i­p­ro­cal ges­tures of inter­twined index and mid­dle fin­gers, as shown above. Hang dai, Mr. Wu. I will miss you.