How do you divide NT $8,888?

I went to the choir practices of the Wu-Feng Presbyterian church last Saturday (January 10, 2009). The choir director, Ms. Chang, is a great story and joke teller. She told a joke that I chuckled violently that I decide to re-tell in English to share the joke with my American friends.

But, wait. You need to understand some basic Taiwanese culture first before you appreciate this joke. In Taiwan, the wife usually manages the money. The reason is that it is a wife or mother's job to cook, to shop, to make charity contributions, to pay for children's school tuition, to call and pay household repairing workers, etc. Thus even a husband is making a lot of money, the money goes directly to the wife's account. The husband will receive weekly allowance from the wife; not much different from the kids receive allowance from the parent except the amount a husband receives is substantially larger than that of a kid receives. The second Taiwanese culture you need to be aware of is that the number '4' sounds like 'death'; it is something to be avoided.

Here goes the story:

A couple was 'window shopping' a jewelry store. The wife admired very much a diamond ring displayed in the store. The ring costs NT $8,888, it is a lot of money for a working couple. Because it costs a lot, the wife is hesitating. The husband detected his wife's admiration and hesitation of buying the diamond ring.

" I will buy the diamond ring for you." said the husband.

"Wow, you are so sweet," the wife said, "but wait, where do you get the money?"

"I saved the money from the weekly allowance." said the husband.

" Dear, that is so sweet." said the wife, " Why don't we divide this amount in half ?"

" Yes, that can be done." said the husband, "but since NT $4,444 is a bad number for both of us, why don't you take the first two 88 and I take the last two 88 for sharing the cost of NT $8,888?"