Culture Cracks

Most of my live Cantonese sessions are done in the venerable Honolulu Coffee and Cake Shop, one of the last proper cha chanteng in Central. The last venue (see film above), whose name I can’t remember now, became a bag shop and last week I saw it was undergoing yet another transformation, no doubt to something awful and unnecessary.

Anyway, last night in Honolulu I noticed they had gone to the trouble of purchasing brand new cups! The fourth or fifth ‘season’ of cups since I started working there in – bloody hell – 2009!

I remarked to my two geezers ah-On and ah-Wai that I’ve been told that in Chinese culture it’s good when the cups and plates are cracked and chipped, because it shows that the place is so busy the waiters must throw the crockery down as they hasten to take yet another order.

“I thought that the place was full of people eating and drinking showed that the place was busy,” ah-Wai quipped,looking at the empty and deserted Honolulu with the waiters dragging themselves around at top speed. Well, it’s busy at lunchtime. Really, really busy.

But it got me thinking again about just as the Cantonese language is always the opposite of English (paper and pen, drink and eat, 6 number ferry pier) the culture is too. Mostly. Severely cracked and chipped cups would be frowned upon in the western world, even in a greasy spoon. Me, I welcome another season of clean, gleaming white cups! For every time I drink a hot lemon water in that establishment, it’s another victory for Cantonese. One more of us, one fewer of them.

茶餐廳 – Cha chan teng (tea meal parlour/HK style greasy spoon)
檀島咖啡餅店 – Tan dou ga fe beng dim (Sandalwood Island [Hawaii] Coffee Cake Shop)
紙筆 – Ji bat (paper pen)
飲食 – Yam sek (drink eat)
六號碼頭 – Lok hou ma tau (6 number ferry pier/Pier 6)

Launch DWD Rigmarole Misunderstanding!

When I launched my Cantonese course on DVD (DWD) last Friday, there were mumblings about this “just being the same films as on You Tube” which, quite right, you can access free. 

However, the things on YouTube are just a tiny fraction of the DWDs! There are new and thorough explanations for each word and grammar point, step-by-step instructions in how to write Chinese characters and look them up in the dictionary and lots of other stuff. 

The You Tube episodes are perhaps 10% of the DWD, if that. So don’t hesitate to buy! Included is a booklet with all the scripts in Chinese, phonetics and English. If that’s not going to catapult you into Cantonese proficiency I don’t know what is.

Chillies! Sichuan food made easy

Thank You For Taking Us Back

Woo-hoo, woo-hoo! July 1st, the day of Hong Kong’s rebirth! I think it’s so kind of the mainland to accept us back in the fold after all the horrible things we have said and done during our years as running dogs of capitalism.

Above is a photo from last year’s demonstration? 示威 (si wai, show strength) or parade? 列隊行進 (lit deui haan jeun, row line walk forward)

The posters we were holding said, among other things: 打倒簡體字,(da dou gan tai tsi, Down With Simplified Characters) and we got some great reactions (ended up in Apple Daily, woot woot) – mostly “Do you know what it says on the poster?” “Er, yes, I wrote it.” “Yes, but do you know what it says?”

Happy rebirthday, Hong Kong! Me, I love the mainland very, very much. I just don’t want its language and way of writing here.