Chinese sayings: 01 (倾巢而出; 囊中羞涩)

Some of my favourite Chinese sayings:

1. 倾巢而出 qīng cháo ér chū / “tilt nest and exit”, sometimes 倾巢出动 qīng cháo chū dòng / “tilt nest exit move”.  

倾巢而出 / 倾巢出动 are defined as “turn out in full force”, for a military campaign.  

My perverse sense of humour has this graphic image for it:  the birds are sitting happily in the nest, all settled down; a hand comes along and tilts the nest, tipping them out (thus forcing them into action).

2. 囊中羞涩 náng zhōng xiū sè.  The online dictionary gives it as “to be cash strapped”.  I love the literal breakdown of the phrase:  “pouch inside shy astringent”. 

羞 xiū / “shy” is easier to imagine: there’s not enough money for the inside of the pouch to be seen, hence “shy (to be seen)”.  

涩 sè is a trickier word to convey adequately in English but common in Chinese.  It’s most often used for the feeling on one’s tongue if one’s eaten fruit that’s not fully ripened.  Not tart / acidic / sour / sharp like unripe mango or apple.  Rather, more like unripe persimmon (kaki / sharon fruit), so that it furs up one’s tongue, giving it a slightly rough feeling.  Another definition of 涩 is “unsmooth”, like the furred-up feeling on the tongue, which is closer to 涩 than tart / acidic / sour / sharp.  It is this “unsmooth” quality to the inside of the (money) pouch that makes me laugh: there’s not enough money to be moved smoothly (out of the pouch).  

Calling the inside of the pouch 羞涩 / “shy unsmooth” is such a euphemistic solution for describing being cash strapped, haha.

Victim of my own success (London)

The dementia lady I’ve been massaging (left leg which had no strength, and sciatic point) now lifts her feet when she walks instead of dragging them along.  She even recognises people at the Chinese community centre, it seems, as she smiles at some of them. 

Unfortunately, she’s now regained enough brain activity and awareness for her to feel jealous of me, as I’ve been massaging her carer husband (neck for his Bell’s Palsy and bad shoulder from holding her up when they walk).  She growls and snarls at me, especially when I’m massaging him.  

On Monday, I was at the table in front of hers in the karaoke corner, minding my own business.  She got up and pulled my hair, growling at me, murder in her eyes.  

It’s good that she seems to be more aware now than her previous zombie state, but I’m getting worried about my already diminishing amount of hair...!

(London, 2022)

Quick identification (London)

There’re so many similar looking/colour suitcases around in the market that some people tie something like a small strip of ribbon/cloth to theirs for easy identification when at the carousel claiming their luggage at the destination.  This was the tip given by my aunt when I took my first flight out of Singapore as a teenager.

The syntax module of my MA Linguistics course at SOAS had 120 (150?) students, with the different colleges (SOAS, UCL, Birkbeck) pooling their students.  

The professor would set homework each week.  He’d then put the stack of 120 (150?) pieces of marked homework on the corner of his desk, for us to go up and retrieve at the end of the lecture.

A long queue would build up as each student took ages going through the pile.  A4 sheets of paper all look the same.

After the first time, I came up with a fast way.  I snipped off the corner of an envelope that is not white (often brown, sometimes electric blue or red if it was for a special card), slotted it into the top right hand corner of my A4 sheet of homework, and stapled it.

It’d take a second to retrieve, as I could see it from miles away and just pull it out of the pile.

(London, 1992)