Tyun pian literally means the film or tape has snapped and refers to someone who has had so much to drink the previous night that they can’t remember a thing about it the next morning, or what we refer to in English as blackout drunk. But what has a film got to do with a night of suboptimal decision making?
Well imagine your life as a film, one that is projected out onto a grand screen every time you recollect an anecdote for your audience. Usually the projection goes smoothly but sometimes, the film in the projector snaps and whatever was on that film is forever gone. Similarly, if someone in Cantonese tells you your film has snapped, you better hope someone hasn’t saved another copy before the bad reviews eventually come in.