T. L. Lim

I should say a little about my name which can be confusing and therefore misleading. My Christian name (not Ernest) is never used and I’m glad because I don’t particularly like it. Only my parents and brother call me by the name. For a very long time, captivated by Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, I assumed the name “Ernest” just as John Worthing in the play calls himself Ernest in London and John in the country. But unlike John Worthing, my purpose is not to deceive which is why I inserted my initials “T.L.” to my name. That stands for Teng Long in hanyu pinyin (the spelling is different in the different dialects, ‘Leong’ in my native dialect) which literally means “a hyperactive dragon” which incidentally, in Chinese folklore, is a good mythical creature and not the evil monster that St George killed.