Pert polly (Singapore)

 

Further to the other (African Grey parrot) Sparky stories, old friend Lay Geok’s update says:

Sparky decides Nunung is not an “aunty”.

Sparky asked Nunung, “Nunung, kamu aunty kah? [are you an aunty?]”

Nunung replied, ‘You can call me aunty Nunung.’ 

Sparky said, “tak mau [don’t want]”, and reasserted, ’Nunung!’

(Singapore, 2024)

PS:  In many cultures, calling someone who’s older “aunty / uncle” is a form of respect, not necessarily because the other party is a relation.  You know you’re old when you get addressed as “aunty”.  I get called that by an Iraqi friend and his family (wife and two young daughters).  A regular customer (West Indian) at the pub where I used to work after my redundancy from the university used to call me that.  So, it’s a practice that’s adopted by more than just Orientals.

kungfu / 功夫 / 工夫

 

Talking to old friend Chris, who is a fellow knowledge nerd, about linguistic matters (comparing Chinese, Japanese and Korean) produced this reference to 功夫 / 工夫 gōngfū, which just means effort.  

    For 功夫 as martial arts, one doesn’t just learn the moves, one has to drill and practise over and over again.

    There’s 功夫茶 / gōngfū chá / kungfu tea, which is what my dialect group (潮州 Cháozhōu, or Teochew as it is called in Singapore, from the pronunciation of 潮州 in the 潮州 dialect) is famous for.  It's not a particular type of tea, it's the way one brews tea and the effort that goes into it.  Again, you keep at it until you get it right.  The tea set is typically a small tea pot with small tea cups.  

    A 師兄 (shīxiōng, senior fellow male student) in my 功夫 group when I was a child was in one of those root-seeking phases, so he got himself a set, complete with a small charcoal stove and spent a lot of his free time perfecting the making of the tea, which includes building up a crust inside the pot — enhances the flavour of subsequent brews.  

    Came back one Sunday at the end of a day by the fishing pond to be greeted by his wife telling him off: “You’re terrible!  You don’t wash your tea pot properly!  I spent all day scrubbing out the inside of your tea pot.”  He said he was close to killing her….  Took him months and months to build up that patina.  

    Now, that comes under 功夫 too, hence 功夫茶.

Benevolent bird (Singapore)

 

Further to blog Polyglot Polly, ex-RI-classmate Lay Geok said of her African Grey parrot: 

Sparky is benevolent and kind. The lizards in my house are all fat! Sparky feeds them, even to the extent of tearing up food into little pieces. She will throw small little seeds from her seed mix for the sparrows. Also call out to the mynahs when we are out of sight so they can come in to feed on whatever there is.

She got mad with me for taking a slipper to bash a grasshopper and screamed ‘mummy!’ to try and stop me.

(RI = Raffles Institution)

(Singapore, 2024)

Polyglot polly (Singapore)

 

Ex-classmate Lay Geok in my RI (Raffles Institution) days has a parrot called Sparky.  She said in a recent WhatsApp message:

    Sparky observes Ramadan!  At the start of Ramadan, Sparky (our pet African Grey) was puzzled why Nunung (my [Malay-speaking] helper) was not eating.  Kept asking, ‘kenapa tak makan? [Why not eat?]’  Nunung then explained she ‘puasa’ [fasting] and Sparky acknowledged with an ‘oh’.  

    After about two days, she observed that when there is the buka puasa [end of fasting] call from the heritage mosque nearby, Nunung will start to eat.  Then when she hears the call, she will tell Nunung, ’sudah, pergi makan’ [done, go eat].

    Sparky is bilingual — speaks English to us and Malay to the helper.  Doesn’t understand Mandarin, Tamil or Tagalog (languages she hears from the neighbours).  Will listen intently, scratch her head and ask Nunung, ’apa? [what?]’  Or sometimes just gets exasperated and says, ’tak tahu lah! [don’t know!]’

(Singapore, 2024)

Chinese sayings: 24 (滿腹牢騷 / 满腹牢骚)

滿腹牢騷 / 满腹牢骚

mǎn fù láo sāo

“full belly prison disturb”

This saying also comes as 牢騷滿腹 láo sāo mǎn fù / “prison disturb full belly”.

牢 láo / prison can also be used as a verb, i.e., to imprison / be imprisoned.  (Such is the fluidity of Chinese words, varying in their grammatical functions according to their positioning.)

騷 sāo / disturb.  My mnemonic for this is: horse radical 馬 mǎ plus 蚤 zǎo / flea = disturb (image: fleas bothering the horse).

滿腹牢騷 mǎn fù láo sāo means to have a bellyful of resentment / grievance.  

Well, one would, wouldn’t one, if one’s belly was full of horse fleas trapped inside?

Chinese sayings: 23 (理直氣壯 / 理直气壮)

 

理直氣壯

lǐ zhí qì zhuàng

“reason/logic straight qì strong”

This saying is from 警世明言 jǐng shì míng yán (c.1621) by 馮夢龍 Féng Mènglóng.

    The two problematic words for translating into English are 理 lǐ and 氣 qì.

    理 lǐ is usually defined as “reason/logic”.  “Reason” not in terms of “why” for explaining an action / a situation, but more like reasoning (behind a situation / particular behaviour), therefore logic is perhaps closer in that sense.

    氣 qì has become more commonplace in English in the last few decades (from 氣功 qìgōng, reiki healing), but is still difficult to convey adequately.  It’s usually defined as “energy”, but in the Chinese perspective, it is much more subtle than that.  It’s more like “vital energy”, which governs not only one’s physical strength, but also means “spirit” (as in demeanour, manner, air, bearing).  It is this sense that’s being expressed in this saying.

    理直氣壯 means that when one’s action is backed by logical reasoning (i.e., justified morally/ethically), then one’s demeanour is strong (firm and confident because one is right / morally justified, unflinching, unafraid).  It carries the spirit of “my conscience is clear”.

    Some people use this to do a bluff / double bluff.  

    An example: if someone shouts at someone else in public, people around would almost immediately / automatically assume that the person doing the shouting is the one in the right and that the person being shouted at has done something wrong.  (For this situation, I’m discounting people with mental problems shouting at random.)  

    I’d witnessed a very assertive young woman who’d just boarded the bus shouting at a man behind her, “Don’t touch me!”  Whether or not he had indeed touched her, I don’t know as I hadn’t seen it, but the man’s surprised look would indicate that he hadn’t (it was a packed bus, so there was bound to be some unintentional physical contact).  Or the man was very good at looking like he was the wronged party.  But her shouting at him would probably immediately make people think he had, otherwise why would she do it?  “理直氣壯, that’s why”: she had right on her side (even though it could be bluff / double bluff).

Chinese sayings: 22 (自相矛盾)

 

自相矛盾

zì xiāng máo dùn

“self mutual spear shield”

This saying means contradicting oneself or one thing contradicting another.  In mainland Chinese usage, 矛盾 máo dùn also means conflict, disagreement or a difference of opinion, because the two sides have opposite views.

    It is from the writings of Hán Fēizi (韓非子, c.280 BC – 233 BC), about a man who sold spears and shields.  

    He said to the crowd in the market place: “My spears are so sharp they can pierce any shield.”  Then, “My shields are so strong they can resist any spear.”  Someone in the crowd piped up, “How would it be if you were to use your spear to pierce your shield?”

    This expression can also be applied to oxymoronic situations / statements.  See blog Oxymoronic situation: 02 (Muting oneself)