Last night I shared a taxi from Tung Chung – oh how it pains me to spell it that way when it’s pronounced DUNG Chung – with a boy and his domestic helper. I noticed →
I spent the weekend in Shenzhen and it was lovely. As I walked around in the sunshine Sunday morning I suddenly realised why I’ve been so unhappy recently. Well, ISIS, WWIII is coming, all that; →
Here is one of my students – let’s call him X-tor. Like so many he succumbed to “MOvember,” the terrible annual male uglification-fest where guys deliberately mutilate their faces to get people to give them →
Here is a thoroughly kind, cheerful and people-loving dog called Rascal, 3. The name is misleading because he’s not alpha or naughty. He’s also not fearful. I’ve known him ever since his owner adopted him →
Yesterday I dragged myself up Lantau Peak to scatter the ashes of a dear friend who died in April. It really made me admire even more those brave souls who participated in the Moontrekker thing →
So on Saturday I hosted a Sichuan dinner for twelve people, three of whom called and said they were lost. I had to rush out in mid-stuffing of dumplings to fetch them. (It was the →
Chat chat chat – now you can learn Cantonese without going through the nasty and potentially violent experience of being in the same room as me! Namely through the wonderful medium of SKYPE. Hook up →
– from a Norwegian! A glimpse behind the scenes of Happy Jellyfish People’s Democratic Language Bureau:
October 1st has just gone but all of Hong Kong warmly and resolutely and enthusiastically and revolutionarily welcomed the grand celebration of the great and noble motherland. Pui O’s many newly(?) converted communist party supporters →
Last weekend a group of three ecstatic revellers hopped on the ferry to Jung Saan (Zhongshan) and got straight in a taxi at the ferry pier and darted into the hinterland. In the lovely, slightly →
Guangdong is the best province in China, and not because of Cantonese! It’s got the friendliest people and the best hovelage. And today I’m off to savour her charms again! I just thought I’d share →
What does this photo of an excellent and ridiculously inexpensive haircut have to do with CantoNews? Nothing! I just like it. In this segment, the venerable Cassette and I visit the Garden Cafe in Pui →
I always have a good time in Shenzhen’s famed Lo Wu Shopping Centre, even after several hours of “missy missy looking, you buy sunglass okay.” Still, I could really do with less nagging. My student →
Hooray! Almost finished with my Sichuan cookbook called What was it again? Cook, something cook, something Sichuan. Something. Anyway, in it I praise that beer so loved and, amazingly, hated, all over the world: “Tsingtao”.
Yes it pains me to write it like that although it’s a brand name, because it’s neither Cantonese nor Mandarin. Cantonese: Cheng Dou, Mandarin: Qingdao. 青島。Green Island.
What? But didn’t I say in my entry only yesterday that ‘green’ was 綠色 (luk sek – green colour)? I did, and that green is indeed the adjective for everyday things like cars, shirts, screwdrivers and green (environmental) movements of various types. 青(cheng) is a poetic word for green and is often found in place names like 青衣 (cheng yi – green clothes, Tsing Yi Island in Hong Kong).
There’s another poetic colour word that means green and blue, namely 碧(bek – green or blue) found in names like 雪碧(suet bek – Snow Green Or Blue,also known as: Sprite!)
Do you know, I didn’t have a photo of a can of Sprite! So it was Cheng Dou again. Oh well.
Oh yes, please buy my online book when it’s published! I’ll let you know when. And also take lessons from me. You’ll learn about drinks, food, and many other things.
What do cows do when a typhoon signal 8 is raging, I wonder?
T8: 八號風球(baat hou fung kao – 8 number wind ball) The scourge of Lantau. Not! As usual, the weather bureau says we’re going to have a direct hit. Even seven hours ago when this typhoon was just a gleam in the raincoat-covered TVB reporter’s eye, all kindergartens closed. Come ON! What’s wrong with Hong Kong? When did we become so damned weak? One would think drops of water were acid the way the government carries on. The kindergartens closed at 8:30am. Now it’s 4:17pm and still no rain.
Anyway, in Cantonese, typhoon is a verb. 打風， (da fung – hitting or striking wind). I used to think the word typhoon came from 打風, but no. It’s actually 颱風,(toi fung, typhoon wind). But that’s not much used, it’s normally 哎呀，今日會打風呀！ (ai ah, gamyat wui da fung ah! Oh dear, today will hit wind ah!)
If you survive the onslaught, why not take a Cantonese course this year? You’ll never be short of weather expressions again!
