Amusing Rude Words in English, Chinese, Dutch, Thai and other languages

Flag of Singapore.

Words which sound rude or slang in English are handy words to know in other countries. You might hear Fuk and Kok in China and Hong Kong and Singapore. Crap elsewhere in Asia.

Singapore, Mandarin, Family Names

When I was in Singapore, on and off for thirty years, I kept hearing people saying fuck. At least, that was what I thought I heard. As an English teacher I wanted to tell them it was impolite in English, but I did not feel comfortable stopping strangers in the street to correct their English.  

You hear family names all the time because Chinese speakers have triple names, with the family name first, followed by the personal or given name. Think of Lee Kuan Yew, the Singaporean VIP. 

Lee is a very common name, also spelled Li, meaning plum tree, tree. Many words have different meanings, like English homophones, with different symbols, just as English words such as two and too.

Chinese, Mandarin, Hokkien Names

Years later, I learned that two of the commonest names in Chinese, in the top ten of popular names, are Fuk and Kok. Fuk, fook or Fu, depending on where you are, and the language or dialect. You might hear or speak Mandarin, in China and Singapore and taught universally, Fuk, 

In Cantonese in Hong Kong and southern China, you might hear Fook.

You might hear Fu, in another dialect. It means good fortune! 

Kok means country, city or defensive wall, or defender of the country. So that is another very popular patriotic name.

Europe - The Netherlands and Belgium

If you are not travelling to Asia, but to Europe, you will also hear the name which sounds like cock. It is Cok, which is dutch for cook. Mr or Mrs Cook.  Dutch is spoken and the name is used in Holland in The Netherlands, also in parts of Belgium, two adjacent countries.

Back in Asia, Singapore was once part of Malaysia. Malaysia's northern neighbour is the country of Thailand, where they speak the Thai language. The word which sounds like crap, sometimes written as Krub, is not rude but a respectful word used by men to address others, a bit like sir, and is used at the end of sentences, whether agreeing or making a statement, or asking a question.

Remembering Names

So, now you know what you are hearing regularly in other countries. It is easy to remember some common names, and to compliment the owner of the name by showing you know and admire its meaning in their language.

Don't tell them that their names mean something rude in English. They have already been told that many times. 

Tell them how lucky they are to be bestowed with such wonderful names, and live in places with such positive names. They will admire you for your knowledge, and be flattered by the fact that you always remember their name.

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Wine Museums Worldwide - WOW - which ones to visit?

WoW stands for World of Wine, also the exlamation, wow! It is a huge wine complex in Portugal, on the hillside overlooking the river. The city is called Oporto, Oporto, on a hillside above the port in Portugal, easy to remember. But that's not the only place to find a wine museum.

After the London Wine Fair, where I saw the stand of Georgia, which claims to be the birthplace of wine, I started thinking about wine museums. Some have supermarket size shops and restaurants. Others have cellar doors offering tastings, sometimes free food, other times platters of food if you have a group and book and pay - and mini-shops, and vineyard visits, with self-guided or guided tours.

I have visited Vineyards all over the world, and I have been to the memorable wine museums in Cyprus and Italy. 

Italy

Italy has huge mosaic floors from Roman villas, showing the Gods of wine, and the Romans reclining and drinking.

The one in Torgiano, Italy is in Umbria, next door to and west of Tuscany, not far from Florence. 

France 

Paris has a wine museum. 

Beyond Paris is Rheims in the Champagne area. There numerous Champagne houses offer tours and tastings.

In France, the port of Marseilles was established for the ships carrying wine. 

Bordeaux has a huge modern museum of wine. The name Bordeaux means border or edge of the water, meaning waterway. Wine drinking and export dates back to the time before air travel and even proper passable roads. Then travel was mainly by boats down rivers and in ships across seas.

Portugal

In Europe the biggest range of museums and gifts such as wine stoppers and socks was in WOW in Portugal. A series of museums on a hillside, like Disney, kept us busy all day.Videos, tastings, and a plastic tumbler to take home included in the price.

The Douro museum, along the river Douro, included a sniff section. The large ground floor shop entertained me with wine soaps and novelties.

Museu do Douro, Portugal. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

USA

California has many wineries, vineyards and shops attached. We drove along, up north from San Francisco. As we got further from the big city, the price of a corkscrew got lower and lower. One of the vineyards had a train tour, but we arrived too late. 

I saw lots of great gifts. In addition to wines, corkscrews, wine racks, bottle covers. Books for keeping a record of wine you've tried and liked. Books for storing bottle labels. 

Websites of Wine Museums: 

• Vino Versum Poysdorf, Austria
• Wine Museum (Pleven), Bulgaria
• Wine Museum, Ehnen, Luxembourg
• Wine Museum and Enoteca, Brazil
• Cyprus Wine Museum, Limassol District, Cyprus
• Macau Wine Museum, Macau, SAR China
• Musée du Vin (Wine Museum of Paris), France
• https://www.bordeaux-tourism.co.uk/cultural-heritage/wine-trade-museum.html#:~:text=Discover%20the%20history%20of%20the,better%20understanding%20of%20Bordeaux%20wines. Bordeaux, France
• Museo del vino (Torgiano), Italy
• Douro Museum, Portugal
• WOW (World of Wine), Porto, Portugal
• Drăgășani Wine Museum, Romania
• Yilan Distillery Chia Chi Lan Wine Museum, Taiwan
• https://www.wineinvestment.com/learn/magazine/2021/05/seven-wine-museums-to-put-on-your-travel-bucket-list/
• Other wine museums are in Georgia, and South Africa.
• https://www.wineenthusiast.com/culture/travel/best-winemaking-history-musuems/?srsltid=AfmBOoqzqokP-8sps2EpFXIhSY0DOMgXWFRycZtFFHAO1WKp6bNWtsJy
• California Wine Museum Antique Shop, USA

Napa Valley wine train (lunches and day tours)

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Glass Bottom Bridges And balconies

 Madeira

I went to the glass floor lookout point in Madeira. It was at the end of an interesting shopping and snack complex and we stopped there on an island tour. 

Our stop was brief. Just time to step out and take a quick hoto. It was hard to get the perspectiveof the balcony and the area below, especially with others trying to cross or take a photo.

Other Glass base Bridges and Balconies by Country (alhabetically)

China

r

Sunyiming

The Chinese versions of the glass floor are not just balconies, viewpoints, but long bridges. 

My friend Samantha from Toastmters Internaitonal in Singapore put a series of stunning photo on Facebook showing hersssssself in assorted dramatic poses. Some looked like she wassidewayor upside down. What a great photo opportunity. I thought I would check were was the bridge, then found China had several of them. Here are some picures of the best.

Photo of bridge in China from Samantha's page.

America has one over the Grand Canyon, Madeira has one, Spain has one. Chine has several. 

Singapore

An overhead crosswalk on Orchand Road near Smerset station MRT has a partially visible glass floor.

Madrid, Spain

USA

Grand Canyon Skywalk

Lookout point, USA. Grand Canyon. According to one account, you have to leave your cameras behind and buy photos. 

If you cannot get near these exciting views, many glass sided lifts on the outides of buildings such as shopping malls and hotels offer a thrill.

Useful Websites

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Winter Dates from China in Singapore

Winter Dates in packaging, bought from Fairprice supermarket, Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

I was looking for fruit in a Fairprice supermarket in Singapore. I wanted cheap fruit. The prices of most fruit in Singapore is twice the price of the UK.

I spied Winter Dates. What were they? Dates?

I bought them.

When I got home I was disappointed to find that they were rock hard. I was also puzzled. What was I supposed to do with them? Wait until they matured and softened? Then eat them raw? Or boil them up?

 I bit into one. It is edible. Like a hard apple. No flavour. Maybe bulk with a flavoursome fruit to make a fruit salad or fruit pie.

One suggestion on Facebook from Jane>

 Try Sephardi charoset?

• I looked ir up.
• Shredded apple, walnuts.

 Seder night food 

for Passover.

• 
  
• 
  
• Another suggestion, try soaking them in wine for a couple of days.

http://chestofbooks.com/gardening-horticulture/fruit/Tropical-And-Subtropical-Fruits/Date-Picking-And-Packing.html  

http://patosdategardens.com/Khalals.shtmlP Please share links to your favourite posts.

VinExpo Asia 2023 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore - and news of a new wine museum in China, and the wine museum in Bordeaux, France

Marina Bay Sands

The elegant and unusual venue was chosen to reflect the prestige of the event.

 It is a trade only show bringing together buyers, importers and sommeliers. VinExpo Asia 2023 will be held at Marina Bay Sands, over three days, after a four year gap due to Covid..

A tasting event takes place the previous afternoon.

The expo  dates are 23-25 May, 2023, a three day event.

Expect to see exhibitors from wine producers as well as products such as Riedel glasses.

There will be  more than 1000 exhibitors from 35 countries which include (alphabetically)

Argentina

Aruba

Austria

Australia

Canada

Chile

China

Finland

France

Germany

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Japan

New Zealand

Romania

Singapore

South Africa

South Korea

Switzerland

UK

USA

Masterclasses are 8 sessions which include California's Napa Valley.

Other exhibions will take place in Paris, France, India

New Wine Museum in China

The most exciting news I have already obtained from their press release is that a Universal Wine Museum is scheduled to open in Beijing in May 2024. One year from now.

One discovery leads to another. I found

Wine Museum In France

Meanwhile, before, after, as well as or instead of visiting Singapore for the VinExpo, consider the Cite Du Vin in Bordeaux, France. Everything for the adult wine drinker, and ,would you believe, special activities for children, too.

I shall add this to my forthcoming book, A Beginner's Guide to the Best Beverages and matching food, which covers wines and spirits, water, cocktails, coffee, and the apple and cheese - they say buy on an apple, sell on a cheese. I have more than a page of quotations about wine and drinking. I hope to bring you more information from VinExpo.

Useful Websites

https://www.laciteduvin.com/en/news/a-day-at-the-cite-du-vin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wine_museums

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Big New Jewish Museum, ANU, in Tel Aviv, Free Entry Sponsored During Passover by Hapoalim bank 9a look a synagogue models, Balfour, Herzl, Mendelssohn

Tel Aviv is my second favourite city in Israel after Jerusalem, because of the art deco architecture, known as Bauhaus, a German word. There is a museum on Bauhaus, another on Bialik who promoted the Hebrew language, and about 15 more museums for you to visit.

Haus is German for house. But let's look at ANU museum.

Jerusalem has history dating back to biblical times. But Tel Aviv, founded in the early 1900s, is all history from the era of my parents and grandparents, and myself, as I lived through the second half of the 1900s.

ANU

Now there's a new, extensive museum, the world's largest museum on Judaism. It is on the university campus. (And much more cheerful than Yad Vashem, which is about the holocaust.) An Israeli bank, Hapoalim, has sponsored free entry during Passover. There are also concessions or rather discounts during paid for days for various other groups. Children under five free.

ANU

The word anu is Hebrew for we.

Beit Hatefutsoth

Beit means building or house. (Think of the city of Beth lehem which means house of bread or bakersy.) Ha is Hebrew for the. tefutsoth means diaspora.

Characters of different levels of orthodoxy, from different countries, with different beliefs.

Characters you might recognize in the photo s below, at the top the Vilna Gaon (gaon translates as guru or genius),  

the museum features the desk of Balfour (famous for the Balfour declaration), Herzl, 

Picture by Sodabottle from article on ANU in Wikipedia.

Top left is Moses Mendelsohnn, son of a man called Mendel, who started the name Mendelssohn, whose son had curvature of the spine, and whose grandson Felix was the composer who wrote the Wedding March.

A striking exhibit from Beit Hatefutsoth. ANU museum, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Leonard Cohen

You start on the top or third floor, with the present day. What might you recognize? Leonard Cohen, singer, a very interesting history of a modern jew who dipped in and out of Judaism and Israel. Following links, I found his song, Hallelujah, on You Tube, sung in Yiddish.

Jewish Hero In China

Other heroes include the Austrian Jewish doctor, Jakob Rosenfeld, who went to China, (on the side of the Communists) was given the highest honour, to a foreigner for the first time, for saving soldiers, villagers, whatever was needed, helping with childbirth. He is now a hero in China.

The Sad Story of Sol

On a sadder note, there is a Jewish girl who was executed in Morocco. As a teenager, aged 17 years old, she appears to have had an argument with her mother, and maybe switched to the local majority Muslim religion, with the encouragement of a devout Muslim next door neighbour, converted back, or not, and been executed.

 I have read several versions of her life story or rather death story, are given, both from the time or shortly afterwards, and later

Her grave is in Morocco in a Jewish cemetery. Now she has a place in this museum in Israel.. Oddly, or happily, she is revered by as a martyr and saint by both the Jews and Moslems.

Nowadays people of both religious persuasions are enthused by her apparent devotion to her old or new religion, and refusal to convert, or stay converted. 

You might be appalled that a young seventeen year old girl should lose her life, and be sacrificed or persuaded to sacrifice herself, not to save another person's life, but for a system of belief. But if you want to enjoy a holiday, it's best not to get upset about something which happened many years ago. You can read about this sad but fascinating story and try to decide what you think really happened.

I think it should be said that many Moroccan Muslims and Jews are friends, and the same goes for Singaporeans and Israelis, as well as some modern Arab leaders and Israelis.

Is this a true story? Apparently, yes. Her grave is in Morocco. It is small but attractive, like a little house with a blue roof.

On a lighter note, there's a section on humour. 

You can see synagogues from all over the world. Basically, the middle floor is about diversity. All countries. All eras.

The ground floor is about what is in common, the bible, synagogues and symbolism.

Jewish Food

ANU museum has another area on food. 

(A kosher cafe is on site.)

There's plenty more, and you can read about it all on the museum's own websites, Wikipedia and all over the place.

Bank Hapoalim sponsors free entry to 170 places in Israel over this holiday and other holidays. You have to book tickets online.

 Useful Websites

https://www.anumuseum.org.il/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANU_-_Museum_of_the_Jewish_People

https://www.anumuseum.org.il/events/passover/?fbclid=IwAR2HnzNMIwxiGUZSZdO_iI7HyLZjEC8du2MjDjq01J8F7mX4aehJ2cAizJs

https://www.anumuseum.org.il/blog-items/solica-legendary-martyr-morocco/?fbclid=IwAR2HnzNMIwxiGUZSZdO_iI7HyLZjEC8du2MjDjq01J8F7mX4aehJ2cAizJs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Hachuel

For Jewish food and recipes see

https://www.foodish.org/en/

Toilet Museums, Taboos and Museums

From Wikipedia.

 INDIA

Delhi has a toilet museum.

India has a toilet cafe.

CHINA

China has a sex museum.

USA

New York has a sex museum. I visited it. 

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulabh_International_Museum_of_Toilets

//toiletology.com/resources/museums/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_bidet

More about these tomorrow.

Winter Solstice in Asia

 Asia

I was surprised to receive in WhatsApp greetings for the winter solstice from a Toastmasters International club., in Singapore.

Red is the lucky or auspicious colour in China.

I looked it up in Wikipedia. It is not the mooncake festival. Wikipedia says>

The Dongzhi Festival or Winter Solstice Festival (Chinese: 冬至; pinyin: Dōngzhì; lit. 'winter's extreme') is one of the most important Chinese festivals celebrated by the Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong Chinese, Taiwan, Japanese, Vietnamese, Koreans and other East Asian-related people during the Dongzhi solar term (winter solstice), some day between December 21 to December 23.

The origins of this festival can be traced back to the yin and yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. After this celebration, it is believed that days will have longer daylight hours and therefore create an increase in positive energy flowing in. The philosophical significance of this is symbolized by the I Ching hexagram fu (Chinese: 复, "Returning").

Contents

• 1Traditional activities
  • 1.1In Taiwan
• 2See also
• 3References
• 4External links

Traditional activities

Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is a time for families to get together. One activity that occurs during these get-togethers (especially in the southern parts of China and in Chinese communities overseas) is the making and eating of tangyuan (汤圆) or balls of glutinous rice, which symbolize reunion. Tangyuan are made of glutinous rice flour and are sometimes coloured pink or green. Each family member receives at least one large tangyuan in addition to several small ones. The flour balls are cooked in a sweet soup or savory broth with both the ball and the soup/broth served in one bowl. It is also often served with jiuniang, a mildly alcoholic, unfiltered rice wine containing whole grains of glutinous rice (and often also sweet osmanthus flowers).

The Osmanthus flower is a tiny white flower also known as tea olive or sweet olive. It can be used in rice cakes as well as the drink. It looks like privet and has a fragrant perfume.

In northern China, people typically eat dumplings on Dongzhi. This custom is said to have been started by Zhang Zhongjing in the Han Dynasty. One cold winter day, he saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears. Feeling sympathetic, he ordered his apprentices to make dumplings with lamb and other ingredients, and distribute them among the poor to keep them warm and prevent their ears from getting chilblains. Since the dumplings were shaped like ears, Zhang named the dish "qùhán jiāoěr tāng" (祛寒娇耳汤) or dumpling soup that expels the cold. From that time on, it has been a tradition to eat dumplings on the day of Dongzhi.

In southern China, people eat rice cake (Chinese: 冬至团; pinyin: dōngzhìtuán), which means reunion. It is not only eaten by the family, but also shared with friends and relatives as a blessing. Mutton soup, rice cake and red bean sticky rice are also popular in southern China.

Old traditions also require people with the same surname or from the same clan to gather at their ancestral temples to worship on this day. There is always a grand reunion dinner following the sacrificial ceremony.

Another tradition is eating hot pot.

The festive food is also a reminder that celebrators are now a year older and should behave better in the coming year. Even today, many Chinese around the world, especially the elderly, still insist that one is "a year older" right after the Dongzhi celebration instead of waiting for the lunar new year.

In Taiwan

The Dongzhi Festival is also very important to Taiwanese people. It is also a tradition for Taiwanese to eat tangyuan on this day. They also use the festive food as an offering dish to worship the ancestors.

In accordance with Taiwanese history, many people take some of the tangyuan that have been used as offerings and stick them on the back of the door or on windows and tables and chairs. These "empowered" tangyuan supposedly serve as protective talismans to keep evil spirits away from children.

As well as following some of the customs practiced on mainland China, the people of Taiwan have a unique custom of offering nine-layer cakes as a ceremonial sacrifice to worship their ancestors. These cakes are made using glutinous rice flour in the shape of a chicken, duck, tortoise, pig, cow, or sheep, and then steamed in different layers of a pot. These animals all signify auspiciousness in Chinese tradition.

Many people take invigorating tonic foods during this particular winter festival. To the Taiwanese, winter is a time when most physical activities should be limited and you should eat well to nourish your body. This practice follows the habits shown by many animals which follow the law of nature and hibernate throughout winter months to rejuvenate and to preserve life. In order to fight cold temperatures, it is necessary to eat more fatty and meaty foods during winter when your body can better absorb the rich and nutritional foods at this time due to a slower metabolic rate.

Since Dongzhi is the "extreme of winter", Taiwanese regard it as the best time of the year to take tonic foods. Some of the most widely popular winter tonic foods enjoyed by Taiwanese to fight cold and strengthen the body's resistance are mutton hot pot and ginger duck hot pot. Other foods like chicken, pork, and abalone are also common ingredients used in making tonic foods with nurturing herbs such as ginseng, deer horn, and the fungus cordyceps.

Useful Websites

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hanukkah-and-the-winter-solstice/

https://mitzvahday.org.uk/hanukkah-winter-solstice-festivals-of-light/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dongzhi_Festival

Osmanthus flower to flavour food and drinks

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Osmanthus_fragrans

Why is North in the north on maps? Who decided? Is it always that way?

 

I researched left, right and centre, as the saying goes for the answer. North, South, East and West. I thought I read on Wikipedia or somewhere else about the man I had never heard of who established north on maps in Europe. My second search showed that Ptolemy has north on maps in ancient times, and European maps put north in all sorts of places until am copied the older system from elsewhere and much later his version was copied onto printed maps in Europe. 

Then I discovered something fascinating. Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer living in Egypt, put north at the top because he started writing at the top. But also from the top left. 

But why north? Because of the north star - but that was done by people living in the south, down under.  Maps were printed with the west at the top by another culture which made their city the most important place in the universe - but why put north at the top and not in the centre. 

China

The Chinese call their country centre, a square with a line through it. I learned that from looking at signposts in Hong Kong.

Sailors, North and South

Another theory goes that sailors were following the stars. 

Or South was at the top of the page, because in Egypt the Nile flows north to the Mediterranean sea.

Mecca and Jerusalem

Then the Arabs lived north of Mecca which was in the south. (But graves of Muslims and Jews in Europe face East towards the holy lands and places, Jerusalem and Mecca.)

Vienna, Austria

We drove around Vienna in Austria arguing about whether to go left or right because my husband was driving, watching the signposts, but I was reading the nap which had south at the bottom of the page following ...

The north pole is at the north. But ...

"You could turn the piece of paper round," my husband suggested. 

 I retorted, "But then the writing is upside down. I could stand on my hands and read it that way. Or place a book on a lazy Susan." 

It is a convention. Sometimes. But not always.

The English write North, South, East and West starting with capital letters. 

Swedish North is north

The Swedish language does not use capital letters. You just have to go with the flow.

Australia

And don't get me started on the way the water runs down the plughole in the bath in Australia. 

Or Christmas in June.

Useful Websites

https://www.geospatialworld.net/blogs/why-maps-point-north-on-top/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/07/travel-myths-backwards-water/

HoReCa Welcome sign for FoodHotelAsia

 

Angela Lansbury at HoReCa at the Expo in Singapore for the hotel, restaurant and catering exhibition. 

The stands were displaying ovens, ice cream makers, moulds, cutlery, crockery, packaging, and ingredients such as milk, vegan products, chocolates. Countries with big displays included Asians such as Singapore, Vietnam, China, Korea as well as Europeans such as France, Spain and Italy.

This welcome sign was a favourite place for group photos and individuals to show that they were at the show. A souvenir. A reminder of dates.

My pose was with arms out, which is more welcoming.

Learn Chinese: How to say WHAT, WHO, WHICH, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, HOW, HOW M...

RyanAir View From The Window of Wind Farm's Wind Turbines, clouds and land between Stansted, UK, and Paphos, Cyprus

 

Ryanair wing, sea and land. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Wind Farm At Sea Off the Essex, UK coast. Taken from a RyanAir plane from Paphos Airport, Cyprus, to Stansted airport, UK. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I had the aisle seat but I knew what to do. Ask the person in the window seat to take a photo. You have to hope that they will not fall asleep. 

You see wind turbines on a  wind farm on the drive from London, England, up to Derbyshire on the M1.

Wind farms around the world are listed in Wikipedia, in the UK (England, Scotland and Wales), the USA, China, Japan, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. They are also listed by sea location, in the Baltic Sea, Irish Sea, and North Sea.

Useful Websites

Ryanair

https://www.ryanair.com/flights/gb/en/flights-to-cyprus

Wind Farms

History of one wind farm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfleet_Sands_Offshore_Wind_Farm

List of farms with number of turbines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_offshore_wind_farms_in_the_United_Kingdom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_offshore_wind_farms