Osmosis

Valerio, old friend and avid reader / supporter of my blogs, posted a comment on my British understatement blog (https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2026/03/british-understatement-letter-to-school.html), reporting on how his own clever turn of phrase had netted a sympathetic response from an ex-employer who might not have forgiven him for deserting them for a different university -- my words.

    He thinks he might've made a British understatement on that occasion, which he's attributed to his four years in London.

    (To do him justice, you'll have to read his full comment yourself at the bottom of the British understatement blog (https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2026/03/british-understatement-letter-to-school.html).

    I concur, calling it osmosis, something I myself am very prone to.

(from googling)

Quote

osmosis

noun

1. 1.

   Biology•Chemistry

   a process by which molecules of a solvent tend to pass through a semipermeable membrane from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one.
2. 2.

   the process of gradual or unconscious assimilation of ideas, knowledge, etc.

Unquote

    An ex-student had very kindly shared his Netflix account with me a few years back, so I started watching a lot of Korean dramas on it.  The modern ones feature a lot of scenes of people dining out in modest restaurants which have a cooking ring in the middle of the table for grilling pork -- a very common practice among the Koreans.  I then found myself buying pork and eating marinaded pork for the following weeks.

    I have now switched to YouTube, having lost the Netflix share.  The series that I was watching a little while back (Romance in the Alley, set in the China of 1977–1992, which had given me loads of blog material) has quite a few noodle-eating scenes, so I started eating noodles after that.

    Talk about being impressionable...

SOAS Students' Union letter: Support Anti-apartheid (London)

Talking about the SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) Students' Union (in https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2026/03/british-understatement-letter-to-school.html) has brought back the memory of another letter I'd typed up for them.

    Bank X (which I shall leave unnamed) had dealings with South Africa at the time (1978 when I first went into SOAS).  Apartheid was in place in South Africa then, so the SOAS Students' Union launched an appeal to its members to try and make life a bit difficult for Bank X, as a protest.

    Members were asked to collect all their loose change, in the lower denominations preferably, take them to the Russell Square branch of Bank X, and get the staff to convert them to notes.  I think there wasn't a machine for weighing up coins like they do nowadays, so it'd take the staff time to count up the small coins for conversion to notes.  This would mean queues building up and other customers getting disgruntled.  I was very touched by this show of solidarity for the people affected by the apartheid policy in South Africa, which is another country.

    On the same note (oops, word play -- not intentional!), I also witnessed a small parade near the old Arsenal Football Stadium in Gillespie Road one afternoon.  There were only about a dozen people, 20 at a stretch.  It was a quiet residential area away from the main roads.  No football game was taking place that day.  I'm therefore not sure why the group decided to hold their protest march along that side street, but I was still moved by the show of solidarity, even more so when I saw that they were mostly white people.

(London, 1978 / second half of 1980s)

British understatement: The letter to the school authorities (London)

(from googling)

Quote

British understatement is a cultural communication style that deliberately downplays significant events, emotions, or achievements, often using dry humor, irony, or self-deprecation. It emphasizes emotional restraint, stoicism, and polite understatement over hyperbole, often making extreme situations sound trivial, such as calling a massive disaster "a bit of a nuisance". 

Unquote

Talking on the phone with old friend Simon Hearnden (BA Geography, 1980, SOAS [School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London]) about visiting him in his new house brought on all sorts of spontaneous reminiscences, started by him recalling how he'd first met me.

    He was a member of the SOAS Students' Union at the time.  I'd walked into the Students' Union office for something (can't remember what now), and found the Secretary (or President) of the union at the typewriter, typing out a newsletter or something.  Not only was he typing with one finger, he was, to start with, having trouble finding the right keys, hunting down each one laboriously.  (This is something quite inconceivable for the younger generation these days.  How life has changed.)

    I said to him, "I'm a trained, qualified and experienced secretary, so I'll be happy to take over this task for you, if you like.  You can leave whatever needs to be typed up in an in-tray for me, and I'll come in regularly to dispatch them."  He was most relieved.  (Ha!  Unconscious anticipatory word play!)

    One of the letters that made me laugh and still remember it to this day was to the SOAS authorities about the quality of the loo paper provided.

    A bit of background here:

(from googling)

Quote

The notorious waxy, scratchy toilet paper issued by local councils and public institutions in post-war Britain was primarily Izal Medicated Toilet Tissue. Often described as thin, beige, and shiny-on-one-side, it was non-absorbent and felt like tracing paper, used extensively in schools, hospitals, and outside loos until the 1970s/80s.

Key Aspects of Izal and Post-War Toilet Paper:

• Manufacture: Made by Newton Chambers & Co. in Sheffield, it was "medicated" with disinfectant, offering a clinical, antiseptic smell.
• Texture: It was famously stiff, shiny, and non-absorbent, often making it "not fit for purpose". It was notoriously difficult to use, particularly in cold, outside toilets.
• Usage: Commonly stamped with "Government Property" or "British No 1 Thin" to prevent theft.
• Alternatives: Another brand, "Bronco," was also commonly used, which was similarly harsh.
• Cultural Legacy: The paper was famously repurposed by children for drawing or in comb-and-paper musical instruments. 

Izal was largely phased out as softer, absorbent toilet tissues became popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

Unquote

    The letter from the Students' Union to the SOAS authorities requested that the School replace the loo paper "as it is causing students a bit of discomfort to use".

(London, 1978)

Long life (China)

 

I was forwarded a couple of features about two ladies aged over a hundred years old, which then reminds me of an article I'd read in China Pictorial (中国画报 / Zhōngguó Huàbào, a photo magazine with more pictures than text) in 1978 by a Chinese journalist who went to a remote mountain village in China.

    There was only one road in, the same road out, so they were isolated, i.e., hardly any contact with the outside world (therefore, not that much stress).  They grew (and lived on) mainly millet and veg, with some tobacco, and ate meat very occasionally.

    A high proportion of the villagers were over 60, with a high proportion of that group being over 80, and some of the over-80s were more than 100.  

    The journalist interviewed two of those in the last category:  

* a woman (103 or something) who stayed at home to cook lunch for the family and care for the youngest generation (great great grandchildren) while the members of the three generations in between (children, grandchildren, great grandchildren) went out to the fields to work.

* an old man who was still working in the fields, aged 108(?).  There was a photo of him, leaning against his hoe, with a long thin Chinese pipe in one hand, smoking home-grown tobacco.

Journalist:  How long have you been smoking?

Old man:  85 years.

    The journalist said the lack of stress must be the biggest factor for their long life.  (Maybe not eating that much meat either?)  I would agree.

    I've since (about a decade ago) seen YouTube videos showing Chinese tourists flocking to a village (or several?) for the high percentage of their members living to a ripe old age, so it seems to be a phenomenon that's still around.  Yes, their living conditions looked a bit time frozen, which might be a factor.

    Maybe these days, "ripe old age" would be over 90 rather than over 80 as people tend to live longer nowadays.

(China, 1970s)

Good practices: 04 (Locating the source when researching)

Trying to get away from being glued to the digital screen for everything (work and pleasure), I switch to reading one of the many books lying around untouched for ages.

    I come across words that I either recognise but don't remember their precise meanings, or new ones.  Instead of going to my phone or laptop to look up each one as and when they crop up, I make a list on a strip of paper I use as a bookmark, for me to search later in one go.  For the context in case I forget, I note down the page number for returning to.

    This is something I've learned from a retired SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) academic back in the 1990s, Russell Jones, when I was working with him on a University of Leiden loanwords project.  (It was the Loanwords in Indonesian / Malay in the series: [from googling] Indonesian / Malay Loanwords: Research on Chinese and Dutch loanwords in Indonesian/Malay, curated by Russell Jones.)

    Russell Jones kept beavering away at research after his official retirement from SOAS in 1984.  I'm honoured to have worked with him on the Indonesian / Malay Loanwords project, learning a lot in the process, amongst which is this good practice of noting down the source of something one has seen that one might want to go back to later, either for clarification or for fetching more of the surrounding text to use as a quote.

    Russell Jones's system is:  dividing a page into nine sections, assigning a to i to each one (consisting of a couple of lines or so).  For example, if there was a word or sentence in the middle of page 98 that was of interest, he'd write down "p.98.e".  Later, if he wanted to go back to read more context for that word or sentence, he'd be able to zoom straight into p.98, and the middle of that page, since e is the middle of a to i.

    This is too refined a system for me, so I've adapted it to just five sections: a to e, with c being the middle.  It's much easier for me, and good enough to get me close to the word or sentence.

(London, 1990s to the present)

Chinese sayings: 57 (能者為師 / 能者为师)

 

能者為師 / 能者为师

néng zhě wéi shī

"able person act-as teacher"

    This is a saying from 禮記 / 礼记 / Liji / The Book of Rites, which shows the high esteem in which teachers are held in the Chinese culture.  (For confirmation from one party, read:  https://piccola-chinita.blogspot.com/2012/03/old-man-in-chinatown-london-uk.html.)

    For contrast, I offer an oft-cited saying in English (apparently erroneously interpreted as derogatory towards the teaching profession):  "Those who can, do.  Those who can't, teach."

禮記 / 礼记 / Liji / The Book of Rites

(from googling) 

(traditional character version) 儒家「五經」之一，記錄了周朝的社會制度、儀式和禮儀行為。

(simplified character version) 儒家“五经”之一，记录了周朝的社会制度、仪式和礼仪行为。

(google translate) One of the Five Classics of Confucianism, it records the social system, rituals, and etiquette of the Zhou Dynasty.

(from googling) Quote The Book of Rites is a collection of texts primarily composed, compiled, and edited between the Warring States period (475–221 B.C.E.) and the early Han Dynasty (202 B.C.E. – 220 C.E.).  While traditional views suggest it was compiled by Confucius's disciples, it was recompiled in the early Han after the "Burning of the Books". Unquote

(traditional character version)

「能者為師」出自《禮記·學記》，原文為「能博喻，然後能為師」。意為會的人就當老師，即誰會就向誰學習，主張不拘一格選拔人才，誰擁有知識、技藝或經驗，誰就可以成為老師，強調了向有長處的人學習的思想。

(simplified character version)

“能者为师”出自《礼记·学记》，原文为“能博喻，然后能为师”。意为会的人就当老师，即谁会就向谁学习，主张不拘一格选拔人才，谁拥有知识、技艺或经验，谁就可以成为老师，强调了向有长处的人学习的思想。

(google translate)

Quote

The phrase "the capable are teachers" comes from the Book of Rites, specifically the chapter on learning. The original text reads, "One who can use extensive analogies can then be a teacher." It means that anyone who is capable should be a teacher, and that one should learn from whoever is skilled. It advocates selecting talent without being bound by convention, and that anyone with knowledge, skills, or experience can become a teacher, emphasizing the idea of ​​learning from those who have strengths.

Unquote

(from googling)

Quote

The phrase "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach" is generally attributed to Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw in his 1903 play Man and Superman.  It appeared in his "Maxims for Revolutionists" appendix as: "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches".  Shaw was referring specifically to revolutionaries, not school teachers.  It is often cited as "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach" or "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach; those who can't teach, teach gym".  The phrase is often considered a derivative of a similar, more complimentary sentiment attributed to Aristotle: "Those who can, do; those who understand, teach".  The saying is frequently used to disparage the teaching profession, implying it is a "consolation prize" for failing in a professional field.  Despite its popularity, many argue the sentiment is inaccurate because teaching itself is a form of "doing" that requires specialized skill.

Unquote