Today’s Classifier: 個

                                                         四個四川人 – sei go sei chyun yan (four Sichuan people.)

個 is the top classifier; the king of class. It actually means piece and is the classifier for people:   三個會計師      － saam go wui gai si (three accountants,) fruit :   一個蘋果     － yat go peng go (one apple) … things of an undefinable shape:   呢個袋 li go doi (this bag) and lots and lots of other things, including abstract ones 下個禮拜     －ha go lai bai (next week) and not least (not everybody knows this:) 你個頭        -lei go tau (your head) which is used the same way as “my arse” in English! As in "你好傻。" "傻你個頭！" “Lei hou so.” “So lei go tau!” (“You’re so thick.” “Thick my arse!”)

Although there are dozens of classifiers in Chinese, (does anyone know how many?) 個 can be used for everything while you’re learning the correct classifier. Not only that, but over the years I find many HK and mainland people using 個 when another classifier would be more appropriate, for example 呢個 （li go) about clothes, where the correct term should be 呢件 （li gin.) It’s a natural evolution/simplification of the language I suppose.

And as Confucius said, time and time again: It’s better to use the wrong classifier than no classifier!

Therefore: Hang on to your 個。