I started preparing my son for PSLE Chinese. Every day, I make sure he reads a bit of my painstakingly collated collocations and questions.

Today, he remarked, “的 and 得 have the same sound, de.”

Just as I was giving myself a pat on the shoulder for my job well done, he asked, “so, did 進化 (evolution) happen?” Pokemon fans would have understood that he thought that there was an inextricable connection between these 2 characters, that one de can evolve into the other de!

我哭笑不得，啼笑皆非. (I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.)