Poor devils and funny eggs
More thoughts from today:
I've always wondered about the English translation for what Chinese call foreigners. It's usually translated as "foreign devils", and if you know Chinese, the word in use doesn't actually concord with "devil" quite that well - it's variously used to cover English words like "ghost', and "spirits", and I've always thought "foreign devils" didn't quite match.
Well, today in the taxi, I suddenly realised that there is an English usage of "devils" that matches the Chinese word - in the expression "That poor devil", when referring to some poor sod. Why did this come to mind? Well, through a long-winded process of strange association, primarily sparked off by hearing on the taxi's radio some chinese singer attempting a Monroe-esque "Happy Birthday", only she kept saying "Happy Burstday".
The other thing that happened was I finally tried one of those Seng Choon instant eggs that Tym has blogged about. Her blog wasn't actually the first time I'd heard of them: during reservists, one of my men had sung high praises of these eggs as a substitute for combat rations (the infantryman's perpetual quest is always for better food).
To be precise, he opined that you could put a naked woman, and these eggs, in front of him and he would choose these eggs. It wasn't phrased so politely, of course, but phrased far more eloquently and convincingly - well, you had to be there to hear him, and I'm not going to reprint verbatim what he said.
Now, with a recommendation like that, one has to try these things, so I picked one up at the 7-11. Verdict? Naked woman wins by a long, long margin over rubbery eggs. The taste isn't all that bad - artificial flavourings cover a multitude of sins - but the texture is like eating rubber when you bite into the "white" and sand when you hit the "yolk".
Better yet, give me good old real eggs anyday ...
I've always wondered about the English translation for what Chinese call foreigners. It's usually translated as "foreign devils", and if you know Chinese, the word in use doesn't actually concord with "devil" quite that well - it's variously used to cover English words like "ghost', and "spirits", and I've always thought "foreign devils" didn't quite match.
Well, today in the taxi, I suddenly realised that there is an English usage of "devils" that matches the Chinese word - in the expression "That poor devil", when referring to some poor sod. Why did this come to mind? Well, through a long-winded process of strange association, primarily sparked off by hearing on the taxi's radio some chinese singer attempting a Monroe-esque "Happy Birthday", only she kept saying "Happy Burstday".
The other thing that happened was I finally tried one of those Seng Choon instant eggs that Tym has blogged about. Her blog wasn't actually the first time I'd heard of them: during reservists, one of my men had sung high praises of these eggs as a substitute for combat rations (the infantryman's perpetual quest is always for better food).
To be precise, he opined that you could put a naked woman, and these eggs, in front of him and he would choose these eggs. It wasn't phrased so politely, of course, but phrased far more eloquently and convincingly - well, you had to be there to hear him, and I'm not going to reprint verbatim what he said.
Now, with a recommendation like that, one has to try these things, so I picked one up at the 7-11. Verdict? Naked woman wins by a long, long margin over rubbery eggs. The taste isn't all that bad - artificial flavourings cover a multitude of sins - but the texture is like eating rubber when you bite into the "white" and sand when you hit the "yolk".
Better yet, give me good old real eggs anyday ...
Comments