NEW Year - Jewish, explained and illustrated

 We just had the two days of The Jewish New Year. The story is in Leviticus 23.24. The Feast of Trumpets. The ram's horn is blown in the synagogue on New Year;s Day. (This takes a lot of puff.) 

In my greetings card box I found old greeting cards for Jewish festivities. Nowadays people send greetings through animated cards and whatsapp but the old printed cards reminded me from the pictures that features of the festival include eating honey and apples.

Looking out of my window in London I see apples on trees in back gardens. The Jewish new year is a lunar new year like the Asian, Chinese,  and Muslim new years. So is Sukkot, the upcoming harvest festival celebrated in Christian churches in England as well as the assembly of Christian Cof E (Church of England) state school, which Americans call public schools. 

School Year

Jewish New Year starting in autumn may seem odd, until you reflect that school and universities follow the same traditional timing.

I remember from living in the USA that in the UK public schools are what Americans call private schools.  What the Americans call public schools, are what we in the UK used to call Council schools because the County council funds them from council tax. 

Jewish New Year's Eve Dinner

The evening before in Hebrew is called Erev. Easy to remember. Eve for evening like New Year's Eve on Dec 31st, and Erev.

I was invited to a Jewish New Year evening dinner on the evening before the second day of Rosh Hashana. Like Christmas eve, Jewish holidays start the night before. (Friday night is the start of the sabbath, varying in time according to the time of darkness when you can see three stars. No need to squint at the sky. A Jewish diary or calendar or newspaper tells you what time the sabbath or festival starts.

Two Night and Two Day Festivals in the Diaspora

The diaspora is the dispersal. (The Irish and others also use the word diaspora, and living beyond the pale, meaning boundary.)

In the UK two nights are celebrated. That is because of the time difference. The UK is not the same time as Jerusalem and Israel, so to be sure to cover every hour of the holiday, two days are celebrated. In Israel, they only celebrate for one day. Often the mother or grandmother or oldest sister cooks and invites the family for the first day. Sometimes a sister or daughter will hold the festive meal at her home on the second day, often using leftover food, and table decorations, candle sticks, flowers, table naplins, plates, borrowing whatever is needed, or pretty, or appropriate. Most religious people celebrate on two days. Non religious people, friends, distant relatives might be invited on the second day. I was invited on the secnd day (night before the second day which this week, this year, was Tuesday night.

Here are some pretty pictures for your entertainment. 

Flower display. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

 Apple and head covering for a man. Paper napkin showing in gold foil the ram's horn. A plastic dipper for honey symbolising sweetness to spread on the apple. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

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Chollah bread. Honey in bowl. With one large wooden honey dipper. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Honey in bowl. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Chocolate wrapped in foil. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Kosher chocolate

It doesn't have to be kosher chocolate. Ideally parve, chocolate designated as vegan, which contains neither milk nor meat, and can be served with either kind of meal.

A milk chocolate could be served with a milk meal containing no meat or meat products, not chicken, only fish. 

The real harvest festival is coming up soon, Sukkot, when households and synagogues build a sukkah, tempeorary hut with a view of the sky, (resembling the booths for guardians of the harvest, built out in Indian fields), decorated with hanging fruit 

Useful Dates

Yom Kippur 2025 Evening of October 1st to sundown on October 2nd.

Sukkot

Evening of Monday 6th October to 1th October in 2025.

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Can you answer the quiz on Americanisms and British equivalents? Words of the world: bothy, diaper, grifter, pants and more

I shall start with a couple of words which were new to me, which I saw in the newspaper this week. Then I shall give you a list of some common words in the USA and British equivalents.

USA
grifter - con artist, swindler, petty crook, USA (not to be confused with drifter, a low-life person who drifts from place to place, as the British police and newspapers would say, of no fixed abode


UK
bothy - mountainside overnight shelter open for the public, UK, especially Scotland - mountain refuge

AMERICAN - BRITISH ENGLISH
1 a quarter after - a quarter past
2 bell hop - porter (in a hotel)
3 closet - wardrobe (or walk-in wardrobe)
4 condo - large apartment block or complex of several blocks with communal leisure facilities such as a gym and swimming pool, maybe a shop - apartment complex with leisure facilities
5 cookie - biscuit
6 diaper - nappy
7 faucet - tap
8 hacks - tips and tricks
9 make a right - turn right
10 momentarily - briefly, for just a moment

11 over-easy - cooked both sides (usually to describe fried egg, occasionally meat)
12 pants - trousers
13 pie a la mode - pie with ice cream
14 private school - fee paying school
15 public school - private school
16 regular - standard size
17 rest room - toilet/bathroom
18 underpants - pants
19 truck - lorry
20 trucker - lorry driver

BRITISH ENGLISH - AMERICAN
1 a quarter past - a quarter after
2 biscuit - cookie
3 council housing - public housing
4 council school - state school
5 fried egg cooked both sides (rarely served, usually just fried egg) - egg over-easy
6 lorry - truck
7 momentarily - soon, shortly, not for long
8 nappy - diaper
9 pants - underpants
10 pie with ice cream -  pie a la mode

11 porter (in a hotel) - bell-hop
12 public school - private school, usually historic with high fees
13 toilet - rest room
14 standard size - regular, normal, medium size
15 tap - faucet
16 tips and tricks - hacks
17 trousers - pants
18 turn right - make a right
19 wardrobe - closet
20 condo

Quiz
1 What is a grifter?
2 What is a bothy?
3 What is the British English for diaper?
4 What is the American word for lorry?
5 What do the Americans call trousers?
6 What is the British for truck?
7 How do the Americans say turn right?
8 What is a quarter after?
9 What is the British English for faucet?
10 What is the American for toilet?

Answers above

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, has lived in the UK, the USA and Singapore.
See many blog posts on American English British English and learning languages. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Americanism and British English - still surprised xxx xoxo?

American English and British English are only slightly different, but I learn new things constantly.


An English author was asked by the copy editor to leave out xxx on the end of letters (mail and email) because Americans would not understand this mean kiss, kiss, kiss.


Americans and some Europeans think it means x rated. Readers are puzzled.

I have noticed but never understood xoxo. Apparently Americans use this to mean kiss hug, hiss hug.

What about Canadians?


Canadians follow British language habits more closely than the Americans.

I already knew what I thought were most of the Americanisms from living in the USA as well as the UK.

British English - American English
bargain basement/bargain shop - thrift store
condom/Durex - rubber
kindergarden - preschool
lorry - truck
Mum - Mom
nappy - diaper
primary school - elementary school
public school - private school
rubber - eraser
secondary school - high school
tip - hack
turn right - make a right

American English - British English
elementary school - primary school
eraser - rubber
hack - tip
high school - secondary school
make a right - turn right
Mom - Mum
on consignment - sale or return
preschool - kindergarden
private school - public school/fee-paying school
public school - state school/council school
truck - lorry
thrift store - bargain shop

Well, love to all of you.
xxx
xoxo

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Looking for a Michelin starred chicken rice in Singapore - or any chicken rice, or the same style in Melbourne, Australia

Problem
Where is it? Who runs it?

Answers
The chicken rice vendor was awarded a Michelin star in 2016 and since then he has expanded his business in Asia and had a successful pop-up in London which had huge queues and sold out of food.

Chicken rice is one of the signature dishes of Singapore.  You'll find it in every hawker centre. Cheap and filling, usually sold with soup, yes a bowl of soup. Chicken soup?

Check how much chicken you are getting. You might be disappointed. You might want to order another different dish, or two portions, or share with somebody else who is less keen on chicken than you are.

Consider the price you are paying. Tell the vendor you are hungry. You may find that by the time you have eaten the rice and soup and ordered a large juice from another stall, you are quite full.

What does the Michelin star chicken rice have which is different? The price in London was £6. The secret is not just the soy sauce, which other places offer, but apparently using smaller chickens so that the juice penetrates through and steeping them in juice all morning so that by lunchtime they are succulent.

Now flights from London to Singapore take about 12 hours. So you cannot expect Mr Chan to be in London for one meal and in Asia overseeing the cooking the next moment. (His name can be spelled Chan Hong Men, surnames first in Asia, like in British public schools. (Aside - for the benefit of my American readers, public schools in England are what Americans call private schools, what Americans can public schools we call council schools of state schools.)

If Mr Chan expands to more than one restaurant in Singapore, or across Asia, what guarantee is there that you will get the same quality? I am not bothered. I reckon it's like the McDonalds or KFC. The person who starts the business has a system which all the restaurants follow.

In most hawker centres when you order chicken rice, check the pictures. You can see that you don't get a solid piece of chicken, but strips or semi-circles arranged in a fan.

The cucumber is just two circles. Not a lot of vegetable. If you are a meat and two veg person, and want your 7 (yes seven) portions of veg a day, you might be better off ordering a second vegetarian dish. That way you can be sure of getting vegetables.

You might see a higher priced meal, usually another 'set' short for set meal, with more ingredients or larger portions.

Mr Chan is Malaysian, but Malaysian Chinese. You can tell he is Chinese by the name, consisting of three short syllables, surname first. Remember the late, great Lee Kuan Yew.

Malaysia has its own cuisine of halal meat, sometimes potato, and often shellfish in the rice. Often more spicy. The Malays are more happy-go-lucky. The Chinese in Malaysia are busy business people.

So, you can get chicken rice anywhere. But if you are happy to pay a bit more, try the Michelin rated chicken rice.

Several other places in Singapore received Michelin stars in 2017.

SINGAPORE
Hawker Chan, 8 Smith Street, Singapore 058972
tel +65 6272 2000

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Hawker Chan
157 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
VIC 3000
Australia
tel: +61 3 9650 8808
hawkerchan.com.au

How do you know he is Chinese? All the lucky eights in the phone number.

It's amazing what detailed and relevant information you can get from the web nowadays. Google will tell you if the place is open now, so without knowing the time zone you can phone and make an enquiry or booking from another country.

I even got the waiting times. Plus, of course, a complete range of customers opinions from the delighted to the disgruntled.

Useful Websites
visitsingapore.com
http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/food/michelin-starred-hawker-chan-draws-long-queues-with-new-outlet-in-melbourne
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g294265-d
https://guide.michelin.sg/en/2017-MICHELIN-guide-Singapore-full-results-restaurants

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have many more posts on food in Singapore, Changi aiport and destinations worldwide. Please share links to your favourite posts

Names In Other Countries

Names and nicknames. Every country has its own system. I've lived in the UK, the USA and Singapore.
 In Singapore in the Hash House Harriers people are given nicknames, some of which are insulting, whilst others are rude. This is traditional and dates back several years to the army.  Then the runners enjoying a paper-chase  were a leisure group to amuse the soldiers evening and weekends. It kept them fit, encouraged team-work, and kept them off the streets and out of trouble.
    I think it's time to move on. From the Americans we have learned a lot about physiology, morale and motivation. The Americans say what goes around comes around. The Indians and Asians say karma.
   The American army pioneered employee selection and job allocation, using psychological testing (Myers Briggs). These classifications are still used widely in the army and companies worldwide.  
  Given what we now know about psychology, we can use words to motivate. We need to encourage self-respect and respect for others. This prevents fights, arguments, insults, homicide and suicide.
    I am opposed to negative names. They belong to the bad old days. I like positive names.
    Naming for characteristics has been going on since biblical times. Originally people had one name.  Then sons were named after their parent, usually the father. John was called John like his father. When he was little he was simply called John's son. Later in his life, and in a later era, he would be called Johnson. In English we also have Williamson, Richardson, Timson, Wilson.
    I have been researching for my novel trilogy which starts in London's East End in the 1880s. That was at the time of when Queen Victoria ruled much of what became known as the Commonwealth or former Commonweal. Queen Victoria's favourite was The PM of England Disraeli, a man whose family converted to Christianity - necessary to be in government, but was of Jewish ancestry, of Italian-Mediterranean origin.  I started researching names, discovering that Jewish names followed two distinct groups. Disraeli was from the Sephardi or Spanish and Portuguese origin. His friends the Rothschild bankers were Ahskenazis, or North Europeans, whose names reflected their language, German mixed with Hebrew (Yiddish) and Russian names.
   From the time of Cromwell and the Quakers, and the Baptists, the Christians had taken 'Christian' names for Baptism and Confirmation, from the bible. They chose Old Testament names, New Testament names (Mathew, Mark Luke and John). Virtuous sounding names were popular, such as Faith, Hope and Charity.
   Governments needed names for a census to count the home population and those in countries they conquered. The armies needed family names to identify recruits and call up.

   In the UK public schools called boys by surnames, or Master (surname). Adults were Mister (surname).
   In the UK we have public schools which are fee-paying. Originally church schools were private and the first fee paying schools were known as public school. In the USA a school where pupils pay is called a public school. A free school paid for out of taxes is called a state school.
  If you name too many people, even two is too many, with the same name you need to add another name.
   The 'calculating' Chinese, always good with money, named their children by order of birth, number one son, and so on.
   Nowadays when texting we need to shorten time spent typing so we go back to one name. Another benefit of a nickname is that it gives anonymity where we are hiding our identity from hackers and ID theft on the internet.  
   A culture with a positive attitude names everybody with good qualities or qualities you wish them to have, such Hope, Charity, Good, Great, Honest. A nickname which is alliterative is easy to remember. One with a positive meaning attracts a smile and a happy outlook.
   That is why I call myself Angella, the Angel. I introduce myself to foreigners and strangers as Angela - like an angel. I like to think I am both angelic, cute and full of goodwill.
   The old meaning of angel was messenger. I am journalist and teacher, bringing knowledge, skills, and useful information and positive thinking and encouragement.
Angela Lansbury
Author of Quick Quotations. Speech writer. Speech Trainer. Immediate Past President Harrovian Speakers' Club, London, England. English tutor. Adult EFL worldwide on Skype. O and A level tutoring. (See books on Lulu.com. Also YouTube videos on speeches and English grammar. LinkedIn. Facebook.)