After noodles in the Jing Jiang dining room…
Jim: Care for a beer?
Horace: I-píng píjiǔ! One of the few phrases I’ve picked up. Means “a bottle of beer,” right?
Jim: So I hear. Let’s go find a cold one before the night gets too philosophical. (Arriving at the elevator) Shall we take her up? (Jim pats himself in four places: forehead, chest, left pocket, right wrist.) Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch.
Horace: What? Some kind of ritual?
Jim: Never know when you fly in one of these Chinese elevators. Old habit. Used to say it before flying missions in the war. If you got shot down, those were the essentials. Eyes to see, balls to run, money to bribe, and a watch to know when to move.
Horace: I always thought it was a cheeky way of making the sign of the cross.
Jim: It is. Catholic schoolboys’ version. Helped us remember the order.
Horace: Did it ever work? The ritual, I mean.
Jim: Well, got shot down over Belgium once. I had all four. Made it back with a limp and a story. So yeah, I suppose it worked.
_________
Voice-over
Jim riffs on the traditional Catholic mnemonic “Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch,” which itself was a way for schoolboys to remember the order of the sign of the cross. That said, the sentiment behind the phrase, checking for essential items before a dangerous mission, resonates with the kind of pragmatic rituals that soldiers and airmen might adopt. Many veterans developed personal routines or superstitions before flying or going into combat, often blending practicality with a touch of gallows humor.
