Fun Stuff
Why You Should Wear Your Wedding Ring on Your Fourth Finger
Vote For Sticky Rice!
Translation work is an art ... and when you add politics to the mix, it really gets interesting. Ask the Boston election officials who face the challenge of creating ballots in Chinese characters for precincts with predominantly Chinese-speaking populations. When it comes to writing candidates' names in Chinese characters, there's more than a little lost in translation. Translators usually resort to finding characters that most closely match the sound of each syllable in the name. Given the many possible characters, as well as the multiple meanings for each character, the end result can put a negative spin on the candidates' names.
For example, Mitt Romney could be read as "Sticky Rice" or "Uncooked Rice". Then there's the "Virtue Soup" for Fred Thompson. Barack Obama? "Oh Bus Horse." Multiple translations increase the fun factor: Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's name could be rendered "Sun Moon Rainbow Farmer," "Imbecile," or "Barbarian Mud No Mind of His Own," and readers of State Secretary William Galvin's name can think of him as either "High Prominent Noble Educated" or "Stick Mosquito."
Origin of Rice: Vietnamese Myth
Once upon a time, the rice grain was in fact a very large ball. Rice was not cultivated then, but at harvest time people instead lit incense and candles, and prayed. The rice grain would simply come into their house, and they would have sufficient for the season.
Unfortunately, one year a lazy woman, in spite of her husband’s instruction to sweep the house to make it ready for the rice grain, procrastinated. Her husband finished praying and the rice grain arrived at their house before she had finished sweeping. The woman was so startled that she struck the rice grain with her broom, whereupon the rice grain burst into a thousand pieces – each small as a grain of rice. From that time since, people have had to plant, harvest, and pound rice.
Alternative
God did not mean for people to have to work hard to grow rice. A spirit messenger had been entrusted by god to bring rice to earth for humans to enjoy. God gave the messenger two magic sacks. “The seeds in the first,” god said, “will grow when they touch the ground and give a plentiful harvest, anywhere, with no effort. The seeds in the second sack, however, must be nurtured; but, if tended properly, will give the earth great beauty.”
Of course, god meant for the first seeds to be rice, which would feed millions with little effort; and the second to be grass, which humans couldn’t eat but would enjoy as a cover for bare ground. Unfortunately, the heavenly messenger got the sacks mixed up, and humans immediately paid for his error; finding that rice was hard to grow whereas grass grew easily everywhere, especially where it wasn’t wanted.
Chinese Customs & Superstitions Concering
Food
1) Chopsticks are not rested on the dinner plate or rice bowl. They are never laid across them when not in use. They must be placed on a rest stand, the soy-sauce dish or a bone plate. The “handle” portion of the chopsticks sits on the table and the “mouth” portion sits on the rest stand or soy-sauce dish. (Note: It would be embarrassing for the host if a guest laid his chopsticks across the individual plate or rice bowl at the end of the meal. It would be a sign that the guest is still hungry and that the host has not provided enough food.)
2) Never stick a chopstick upright in a rice bowl, not even to chop us something in it. This is a bad omen, as a single chopstick is stuck upright in a bowl of rice at a Chinese funeral to show the separation of the person who has died. The single chopstick is a sign of heaven. It is symbolic of the single joss-stick that is burned for the deceased.
3) Waving chopsticks in the air or pointing with them is bad manners.
4) Slurping soup is considered acceptable. Burping is a sign of appreciation Westerners should be aware of these customs so they won’t be taken by surprise, but they are not expected to follow suit in order to be polite.
5) If any of the guests at the table are seamen, fishermen, or even sailing-boat enthusiasts, a half-eaten fish should not be turned over on the platter. This is supposed to foretell the capsizing of his boat on his next sea trip. The bones can be removed and the fish eaten from the top down.
6) For good luck, the Chinese like to have an even number of guests at a dinner: six, eight, ten or twelve.
Water Buffalo For Sale
Kengtung, Myanmar (Burma)
At Kengtung water buffalo market, the best animals can fetch up to $500.
Need to replace your old, worn out water buffalo? Head to Kengtung in Shan State, Myanmar where, three times a week, the water buffalo market is held in an empty field outside town.
You'll have to take a motorcycle taxi to get there and be sure to hold on tight because the road up the hill is rough and full of holes. During the rainy season it can be downright treacherous. However, if you arrive early, the sound of the monks chanting from the nearby monastery reverberates through the misty hills, adding an ethereal touch to the scene.
The selection of water buffalo is substantial and varied. How do you judge the best beast? Aao San, the young man who brought me to the market, lays out the criteria: "First you check the teeth. Are they good and strong? Then you check to see if the body and the horns are uniform. Don't forget to look at the toes."
"Why the toes?" I asked.
He shrugged. "The toes hold the body up. They must have strength." Water Buffalo 101 out of the way, we moved on to esotericism. "The hips are a personal preference. Some like them big, round and beautiful." Here, Aao drew out a voluptuous circle in the air. "Others think streamlined are better." His hands snapped to attention in a rigid line.
The water buffalo market sometimes turns into the scene of domestic drama. I watched a heated argument break out between two men. Aao San translated the dispute:
"The first man woke up to find his water buffalo gone. So, he came here, and found the buffalo with this other man, a farmer from the Akah tribe. The first man is leveling an accusation of theft, but the Akah farmer claims he came by it legally. The two officials," Aao pointed to two men squatting side by side under two bamboo poles covered with thatch, "They will settle it."
The officials got up and ambled over to the arguing farmers. One of them produced some papers and the first farmer stomped away. The documents showed that the farmer bought the buffalo from the other man's wife--she sold it to pay off her husband's gambling debts.
Most water buffalo go for around $200 to $300, but the best can cost more than $500. Shipping not included.