Charlie is good looking

Greetings!

We invited our younger son and his family to come over to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

After we ate, our daughter-in-law suggested for us to play the Gossip Game.  She knew I had not heard of the name of the game.  She explained to me that one person would whisper a phrase to the person next to him, then that person would whisper what he heard to the next person, and the last person that heard the whispered phrase would say it out loud.  My daughter-in-law said, "A lot of times, it turns out that the phrase is completely distorted.  It is a good game to play in the school.  It is a fun game, and, it is educational.  Students will learn gossips do not equate to truth."

We stood in a circle.  My daughter-in-law said we could ask the one who related the phrase to repeat it if we were not sure of what we heard.  My oldest grandson volunteered to be the one that came up with a phrase.  He thought for a while.  He whispered the phrase to his sister.  My younger son leaned down to hear the words from his daughter.  My son told me the words.  I had doubts.  I asked him to repeat the phrase.

Right then, my older son came out of the bathroom.  When he learned we were playing the Gossip Game, he said he wanted to play too.  He went to stand at the end of the line of Gossip.  I told my daughter-in-law of what I thought I heard.  She in turn said it to my older son.

Confidently, my older son said it out loud, "Charlie is good looking!"

The rest of us exclaimed in surprise, "What?"

We heard something like "Charlie's good luck" or "Charlie is good luck".  We turned to the phrase originator, my grandson.  The boy looked at us.  He said, "That was not what I said!"

The phrase was "Chinese Year, Good Luck!"

Indeed, the phrase had almost been completely distorted, but the Good remained.  All of us had a good laugh.

Love,
Q of D