Wo Niu Guo

Was lunching with a colleague yesterday and naturally, work grouses came up as one of our myriad lunchtime topics. Then she mentioned that sometimes we can't fault people for their working style - like they're in "Wo Niu Guo". Literal translation: Snail Kingdom.

Given my proficiency in the mother tongue, it took me a while to register what that was. I must have looked pretty lost, cos she went "Remember? When we were in primary school, there was this chapter about Wo Niu Guo. The girl in the story was always taking her own sweet time to do things? Then one day, she went to Wo Niu Guo, and she waited 3 hours for her food to be cooked? So she asked the cook to speed up as she was hungry, and he replied 'Wo men yi jing hen kuai le! (We are very fast already!)' You remember or not?"

I remember. And I couldn't help laughing. Funny the kind of stories textbooks come up with hor? Quite a good term to use.

"Eh, can faster or not? You like living in Wo Niu Guo leh!"
"Wah, the way your company works is like Wo Niu Guo."
"Cannot blame her la. She from Wo Niu Guo one."

Wo Niu Guo. Does anybody else remember this particular chapter?