In Hong Kong you still find some colonial English being used, often from Malay, or an Indian dialect.
The popular (here and in Taiwan anyway) rice gruel called 粥 (zhou in Mandarin, "zhuk" in Cantonese) is "congee" in English. This word is Tamil. The chap who collects the car park fee is called a shroff (Persian), a warehouse is a godown (Malay). There are others. And I must explain about tomato sauce some other time.
Anyway, everyone knows that the English slang "cha" for tea is simply the Chinese word "cha" (茶). But what about its container?
This is controversial. One school of thought is that caddy is from "catty", a Malay word used in Hong Kong to translate the Chinese unit of weight which is a "jin" in Mandarin (斤). This weighs roughly an English (avoirdupois, as we say in English) pound. A caddy, so it goes, is so-called because it would hold about a pound of tea.
But where does catty come from? The more enlightened explanation is that it is so called because the average cat stuffed into a small box would weigh about this much. Especially once you have added a few large stones to make sure it sinks.
How did this come to mean also the dour Scotsman who carries your golf clubs? Easy. It didn't, the words are completely unconnected. The Scotsman comes from the French word "cadet", a junior or young brother.
Since recent posts have been about democracy, here's a chance to vote for your preferred explanation. Please use the buttons below.
Update: buttons now removed because they appeared under every posting, and "Malay" or "Dead cat" didn't make much sense under other posts!
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| Do you eat it, or has it already been eaten? |
The popular (here and in Taiwan anyway) rice gruel called 粥 (zhou in Mandarin, "zhuk" in Cantonese) is "congee" in English. This word is Tamil. The chap who collects the car park fee is called a shroff (Persian), a warehouse is a godown (Malay). There are others. And I must explain about tomato sauce some other time.
Anyway, everyone knows that the English slang "cha" for tea is simply the Chinese word "cha" (茶). But what about its container?
This is controversial. One school of thought is that caddy is from "catty", a Malay word used in Hong Kong to translate the Chinese unit of weight which is a "jin" in Mandarin (斤). This weighs roughly an English (avoirdupois, as we say in English) pound. A caddy, so it goes, is so-called because it would hold about a pound of tea.
But where does catty come from? The more enlightened explanation is that it is so called because the average cat stuffed into a small box would weigh about this much. Especially once you have added a few large stones to make sure it sinks.
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| Spot the ray of sunshine... |
How did this come to mean also the dour Scotsman who carries your golf clubs? Easy. It didn't, the words are completely unconnected. The Scotsman comes from the French word "cadet", a junior or young brother.
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| Chinese Ladies' Open c. 1841 |
Since recent posts have been about democracy, here's a chance to vote for your preferred explanation. Please use the buttons below.
Update: buttons now removed because they appeared under every posting, and "Malay" or "Dead cat" didn't make much sense under other posts!
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