Viet is sharp and streetwise but he prefers to be the affable bear. I like him immensely. He grills me day and night on English grammar, idiom, and slang. “How do you say breasts, women’s breasts, in English slang?” “Tits?” “No, I mean slang. Playing words. Things Americans say on the street.” “Melons, cantaloupes, knockers,” I offer. He repeats them carefully. I explain to him the subtleties behind the slang, but I’m not sure of them myself so I make it up as I go. “Well, melons and cantaloupe, that should be self-explanatory. The shape and the perfume, I guess. Knockers are these things
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