Thursday, September 14, 2006
Misnomers
Hi,
Misnomer of sorts
"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet", so wrote William Shakespeare in the play Romeo and Juliet. This statement is well quoted, even now.
But is any other flower called rose make it just as intended. One will easily get away with frangipani, jasmine, orchid or other fragrant flowers, but do not try calling the Rafflesia arnoldii a rose, it will definitely not work !
But in the case of food, it does work ! Some favourite cakes and breakfast fares such as soonkway and chyethowkway are really misnomers. Is there any more soon, bamboo shoot, in soonkway; it is really turnip ? How much chyethow, raddish, is there in chyethowkway; it is mostly rice, with may be a smell of chyethow ? Are yam cakes made of yam ? And can one really find carrot in fried carrot cakes ?
How about shark fins soup; one can go on a treasure hunt for it at most Chinese dinners. And what do we get when venison dishes are served ?
The mooncake festival is near. Where will one find the favourite lotus paste that is what mooncakes were made of. Some shops are beginning to be frank enough to sell some of their mooncakes as towsar mooncakes , or bean mooncakes.
All this makes one wonder whether misnomers became so because of the way they evolved. Some young Singaporeans are beginning to think that chickens are featherless, so will future generations of Singaporeans called the pig a deer ? What is pork and what is venison ?
There is an anecdote about Richard Nixon and Chow EngLai. After Nixon was well feasted in China with all the wonderful delicacies, he decided to impress Chow EngLai who in return visited the USA. After they had enjoyed the American favourite snack, Nixon informed Chow EngLai that it is called hot dog and asked him for his comment. Hesitating a little bit, Chow EngLai said, "We do eat wild and exotic food, but we do not eat this part of the dog."
Have a nice day
Ronald
Misnomer of sorts
"That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet", so wrote William Shakespeare in the play Romeo and Juliet. This statement is well quoted, even now.
But is any other flower called rose make it just as intended. One will easily get away with frangipani, jasmine, orchid or other fragrant flowers, but do not try calling the Rafflesia arnoldii a rose, it will definitely not work !
But in the case of food, it does work ! Some favourite cakes and breakfast fares such as soonkway and chyethowkway are really misnomers. Is there any more soon, bamboo shoot, in soonkway; it is really turnip ? How much chyethow, raddish, is there in chyethowkway; it is mostly rice, with may be a smell of chyethow ? Are yam cakes made of yam ? And can one really find carrot in fried carrot cakes ?
How about shark fins soup; one can go on a treasure hunt for it at most Chinese dinners. And what do we get when venison dishes are served ?
The mooncake festival is near. Where will one find the favourite lotus paste that is what mooncakes were made of. Some shops are beginning to be frank enough to sell some of their mooncakes as towsar mooncakes , or bean mooncakes.
All this makes one wonder whether misnomers became so because of the way they evolved. Some young Singaporeans are beginning to think that chickens are featherless, so will future generations of Singaporeans called the pig a deer ? What is pork and what is venison ?
There is an anecdote about Richard Nixon and Chow EngLai. After Nixon was well feasted in China with all the wonderful delicacies, he decided to impress Chow EngLai who in return visited the USA. After they had enjoyed the American favourite snack, Nixon informed Chow EngLai that it is called hot dog and asked him for his comment. Hesitating a little bit, Chow EngLai said, "We do eat wild and exotic food, but we do not eat this part of the dog."
Have a nice day
Ronald
# posted by chunmu @ 6:16 PM 
