ക GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY

In less than 30 hours, 2009 is long gone. Time flies like an arrow and all the years gone by like a blink of an eye. We cannot escape the facts of life, { 生老病死 shēng lǎo bìng sǐ } which is birth, old age, sickness & death. Life is impermanent, quite uncertain and always in a state of flux. We know one thing for sure we grow old but we can grow old gracefully and mindfully.

Had a get together with old friends whom we have not met for some time over cuppa of coffee, all the four are 'YesNoYes' (Chinese educated)[in case some missed my earlier post ~ its a name we called those educated in Chinese and Kenwooi coined them as 'mango'] and as usual I'm the only bananaz. That has been my "gift" since day one, having lots of "yesnoyes" friends more than bananaz friends. Yak yak yak about travel, [fast forward]..and finally about how to retire and one peculiar topic of "OLD" creeps into the conversation and I can hardly wait to blog and share about it. One of them shared his ideology of growing old gracefully with four paramount factors of "OLD" that we need the most which sounds terrific to me. A creative joke pun replaced the most common Chinese proverb thus inverted the meaning as not to depend on our children to look after us when we grow old..

養兒防老 OR 養兒煩恼

{yǎng' ér fáng lǎo OR yǎng' ér fán nǎo}

The first part { 養兒防老yǎng' ér fáng lǎo }  means to bring up children for the purpose of being looked after in old age OR the second { 養兒煩恼 yǎng' ér fán nǎo } where there is rhyme for 'fáng lǎo' & 'fán nǎo' which literarily means to have more worries or anxieties having children. If the first part is true MAYBE that is one of the reason why our ancestors in the olden days prefer boys than girls so that they can lived happily ever after with the son (s) taking care of them through old age? That's my wild guess. In future do you still believe your son will take care of you or you think your daughter will take care of you even more or will your children bid you farewell and send you to old folks home? Take it as a bonus point, hope for the best and prepare for the worst..(Thanks to Autumn Belle who added  this "Chinese want to have sons in a family to carry on the family surname and the 'OLD' is like addressing 'Sir' and not referring to old in terms of age").

So what are the four very important factors we should look forward to so as not to be a liability to our children and society? Here you go..

I. { 老伴 lǎo bàn } old spouse (husband or wife or soulmate).

II. { 老友 lǎo you } old friend, someone to catch up for a cuppa.

III. { 老生 lǎo shēng } old body, healthy living.

IV. { 老本 lǎo běn } old capital, retirement fund or nestegg.

Wishing everyone a blessed wonderful, and bountiful ll0l0.

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ക Merry Bollywood Xmas

Dear fellow Bloggers & friends

A BLESSED CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE! शुभ क्रिसमस (Śubh krisamas); 聖誕快樂, 新年快樂(shèngdàn kuàilè xīnnián kuàilè). Thank you all for the kind support and will do my level best to make this blog more 'apeeling' [appealing]. :p TOUCHDOWN 2010 very soon..

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ക SEX { 色 sè }

Some men just don’t know the danger of becoming naughty. Right now script writers are cracking their skull with some sexciting movie scripts for a movie with a title "Crouching TIGER Hidden WOLF " { 臥虎藏狼 wò hǔ cáng láng } into the life a top-notch golfer caught with his pants down. Bee Gees’s tune of ‘How can you mend a broken heart’ would be humming in people's ear drums all over the world. You can cheat one people all the time, all the people at one time but you cannot cheat all the people all the time which connects to another Chinese saying. [ 爬的山多終遇虎 ] { pá de shān duō zhōng yù hǔ (climb the mountain more eventually meet tiger)} translates to "if you climb the mountain too often chances are, you will eventually meet the tiger.

The warning is already set in the word "SEX" in Chinese { 色 sè } and it also means 'color' with the same pronunciation {sè } as sex. Here again there are variation on the Chinese character, thanks to Jeannie. The ancient scholars have great foresight to think of this good old advice which carries the same meaning of playing with fire, so - {色 字 頭 上 一 把 刀 sè zì tóu shàng yī bà dāo (sex word head top one handle knife)} meaning there is a wood handle knife on the upper top part of the word {sex ~ 色 sè }. The knife is ever ready to stab any naughty ones and it serves as  reminder to all sensual beings to be aware and cautious at all times. The world undisputed heavy weight champion Mike Tyson was ‘knifed’ and the  consequences, three years jail term and later on declared bankruptcy. Edison Chen, the canto pop singer/actor was ‘knifed’ and lost all major advertisement contracts. Now the latest  is Tiger Woods, who was just ‘knifed’ and triggered Gillette not to feature him in its ads for an unspecified period of time. Going on hiatus indefinitely to salvage his marriage is gonna hurt his associations with most major sponsors. Will the crouching Tiger be able to return and maintain his form to a T just as when and where he left? Well some men just can never learn to see the knife, especially a sharp falling knife.

I have just discovered a strange difference, in pornographic terms we say 'blue film' in English what about in Chinese? Your guess is as ‘blue’ as mine, its 'yellow film' { 黃色片 huángsè piàn }. The English and Chinese have different perception of colors?

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恭喜 ക 恭喜 CONGRATULATIONS TO JEANNIE

Congratulations to Jeannie for winning the "Inukshuk Blog Award for Edutainment 2009" from the #1 Canadian Blog! Kindly click on the above picture for full details of the Award. For those who wish to learn more about Chinese language the fun and easy way, please check it out on her BLOG. Would like to seize this opportunity to thank her from the bottom of my heart and I'm very very very glad that I have picked up quite a great 'bunch' of Chinese vocabulary from her over the weeks. Kudos & Xie Xie 謝謝

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ക ENGLISH IS HARD! Face It..

Oh yes in my last entry I said Chinese is one tough language (personal opinion) as it has many variations and English too is not spared. Thanks to Lee Glen for this and also to Al Lowe who has flashed me the green light. I often asked about weird English just for the fun of it like the plural of box is boxes and why ox is not oxes or why is it we say "raining cats and dogs"? English refers to England, Polish refers to Poland and why not Hollish to Holland? This may not be new to some as with the speed of internet it has been in circulation for some time. Anyway have fun and go bananaz over weird English, good news is links are provided for easy reference. Any idea what is the longest word in any major dictionary? I just learned it's "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis" a total of 45 letters, with sincere thanks to my English guru,  Kevin of "Back To English".

English is Hard! Face it: English is a crazy language.

Try to sight-read these sentences correctly:

1. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
2. A guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
3. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
4. How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
5. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
6. An alarm goes off when it’s on.
7. Boxing rings are square.
8. English muffins aren’t from England nor French fries from France.
9. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
10. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
11. How can we have noses that run and feet that smell?
12. I did not object to the object.
13. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
14. If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
15. If teachers teach and preachers preach, why does a teacher taught, but no preacher ever praught?
16. People recite at plays and play at recitals.
17. Quicksand works slowly.
18. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
19. Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
20. The bandage was wound around the wound.
21. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
22. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
23. The farm was used to produce produce.
24. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
25. The plural of goose is geese, but the plural of moose is not meese.
26. The plural of tooth is teeth, but the plural of booth is not beeth.
27. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
28. The wind was too strong to wind the sail
29. There is neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
30. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger.
31. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row
32. They were too close to the door to close it.
33. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
34. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
35. We must polish the Polish furniture.
36. We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
37. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
38. Why doesn’t Buick rhyme with quick?
39. Writers write, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham.
40. You can make amends but not one amend.
41. You fill in a form by filling it out.
42. Your house burns up as it burns down.
43. How can inflammable and flammable means the same thing?

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

Oh . . . one more thing:

What is the first thing you do in the morning & the last thing you do at night?

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ക PEOPLE HEARING WITHOUT LISTENING @ 聽

"People talking without speaking

People hearing without listening

People writing songs that voices that never share

And no one dare disturb THE SOUND OF SILENCE..." 
~ Simon & Garfunkel

Friends, Bloggers, countrymen, lend me your EARS;

I come to bury seizure[Caesar], not to praise him. 

[..] ~ William Shakespeare

God gave us two EARS and one mouth, so we can hear twice as much as we say? This is an abstract from an article from ACQYR, written by a psychologist, Patsi Krakoff, Psy. D., CBC, who says that the main communications tasks are: reading, writing, speaking or listening and out of the four tasks, 50% comes from listening alone. But only 25% were retained. Why? Because we give little attention and simply taking it for granted that everyone knows how to listen. The average person speaks at about 130 words per minute against our thinking speed of about 500 words per minute. This causes our minds to wander and we are actually drifting away to other things, thus this phrase "People hearing without listening" is very well said. Krakoff has recommended "Active Listening" to curb the problem. In active listening, it involves the listener paying full attention to the speaker, and then summarizing or reflecting back what he or she has heard without evaluating or interpreting. 

One classic example I could think of,  most successful restaurants or fast food chains used 'active listening' on their waitresses to repeat orders made by clients as confirmation. Oh yeah another example is the "whispering game" whereby a leader in a group of 20 people would whisper a message to the second person and the second guy to repeat the same to the third person and to the next and next until finally in conclusion what the first person says does not tally with the last person. That is where the listening problem begins.

What is the above Chinese word means? This is another simplified version not been used often. Practically the olden way of reading starts from right to left. So it begins with 'you' [figure of a person] using the 'eye' [目]{mù} (sideways) with 'one' [一]{yī} 'heart or mind' [心]{xīn} and 'ear' [耳]{ěr}. Thus the whole word added up is "LISTEN" [聽] {tīng }.  Try talking to a person without looking at his/her face or blocking your own eyes with your hand during the conversation? Can you get the message across? Or when you are in a seminar without looking at the speaker's face? Most likely you would bound to dose off after a while. Quite interesting to note that this Chinese character is very meaningful and actually a composition of what nature gives us, knowing very well just by listening with only the ears is not good enough. So it practically tells us to hear with our ear and listen attentively with our eyes and our mind (heart).

For a bananaz like me, would be at risk of having a seizure to unfold such complex Chinese word  if without the kind assistance of my laoshi Jeannie who went all out researching over the net on the Chinese Etymology of this word 聽 { tīng } as the 'evolution' has created many variations. BTW I have just found out that Jeannie has won the "Inukshuk Award Edutainment 2009", Congratz! Dear fellow bloggers 請多多指教 { qǐng duōduō zhǐjiāo } appreciate your kind advice and comments. Just when you think this word or Chinese language is a tough nut to crack wait till you see some nonsensical English surfacing in my future post.

[ ] Mandarin

{ } Hànyǔpīnyīn

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ക Chinese Idiom ~ AN OLD HORSE KNOWS THE WAY ~ 老馬識途 {Lǎomǎ shìtú}

"An Old Horse Knows the Way" ~ 老馬識途 

This story is about Duke Huan from the State of Qi, a battle over the State of Shanrong and Gu Zhu in spring and autumn period (770-476BC) which was a distance away from Qi. By the time the State of Shanrong and Gu Zhu was defeated winter sets in a little early. Duke Huan and his army lost their way back to Qi. His minister, Guan Zhong suggested to him, "Why not let the old horses to lead the way, they have excellent animal intuition". Sure enough the army followed the old horses and arrived home safely. Thus the Chinese idiom "An Old Horse Knows The Way" is to praise an experienced person who knows his job and role functions or his way very well. (Special thanks to Jeannie, my newfound Chinese teacher 老師 { lǎoshī } for her kind assistance, please click HERE to visit her blog and learn this idiom in Chinese/English with pīnyīn).

However on the other side of the coin if the idiom is misused it could be disastrous. This is a true sharing  by my optician, Mr AP Chong, about his observation if you were to add in certain Chinese words it could be fatal. Besides the two most popular words  of "Yam Seng" (bottoms up) at dinner functions, another four words that is notoriously hazardous to drinkers who frequently uttered 不醉不歸 {bùzui bùguī} (literally means 'no drunk no home'). Some mindset have not been changed as the idiom "An old horse knows the way" cannot be applicable in this instance anymore, it is obsolete. Those ancient days you can depend on your faithful old horse who knows the way home even when you are dead drunk but not in this new millennium. You either kill or be killed when you are driving under influence of alcohol, in short DUI. Drink all you can provided if you have someone to send you home.

Thanks to Irene Hoi for the email which many may have seen before but needed to be reminded regularly. It is very timely and related to the highlights of the danger of DUI as you can see below how devastating it could be to a lovely teenager where her future is totally wrecked by a freak DUI accident. (CAUTION : Graphic images maybe gruesome to some).

Jacqueline Saburido was hit by another car that was driven by a 17-year old male student on his way home after drinking a couple of hard packs with his friends. This was in December 1999. Jacqueline was caught in the burning car and her body was heavily burnt during around 45 seconds. After the accident Jacqueline has needed over 40 operations. Not everyone who gets hit by a car dies.

(Click on the picture for full details)

This picture was taken 4 years after the accident and the doctors are still working on Jacqueline, whose body was covered with 60% severe burns. Let's make as many people as we can to be aware of the consequences of drinking & driving.

Her traumatic condition moved me to tears as I was doing up this post. Let's pray for her speedy recovery. May she be well and happy, may she be free from mental and physical suffering and also to all the victims of DUI as well. Please have a heart, "DON'T DRINK & DRIVE".

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ക Blogthings: what color should your blog be?..

Your Blog Should Be Yellow

You're a cheerful, upbeat blogger who tends to make everyone laugh.

You are a great storyteller, and the first to post the latest funny link.

You're also friendly and welcoming to everyone who comments on your blog.

What color should your blog be?

Took a quiz on my blog's color,  voila... its yellow, have a go. Thanks to Levian

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ക WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN

Before the rising sun we fly

So many roads to choose

We start our walking

And learn to run

And yes! We've just begun

Yes this is part of the lyric from the song "We've Only Just Begun" by the Carpenters. The "Bridging" has just begun and hope to pick up Chinese/Mandarin with more practice. Bear with my thoughts as they are merely my personal opinion and kindly spare the whip. During my younger days, life can be so complex and confusing as a minority "RARE" Bananaz growing up in a majority 'Chinaman' environment which I often wonder whether I am trapped in the wrong peel or the wrong shell?

Let's begin with me the green fresh Bananaz struggling to reconcile as a minority where  Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh occupied the coffee table, neighbors speak Hokkien and Teow Chew, Mama's friends conversed in Cantonese and Mandarin, Papa spoke broken Hokkien30/Hakka70 however English was silent at home and spoken in school only.

Now the Bananaz Blues where the confusion just begun: 

Blunder #1 ~ Cannot understand why all Chinese medical shops have the same last name - Chong Choon Tong, Pak Ho Tong or Ho Chin Tong? The 'Tong' kept  bugging and tong-ing me each time I passed by the sign prompting to ask myself, "Is this a must to name their children with 'Tong' when they operate a medical shop?" [The Truth: The "Tong" 堂 is actually a Chinese word in Hakka (not related to the Haka of All Blacks) referring to Medical Hall (most of the bosses are Hakka then) and not a name of the person, aiya wrong thoughts for many long years, how wrong could I be].

Blunder #2 ~ Mama used to say Hoklo this Hoklo that, when referring to neighbors which I thought was a nasty word dare not asked for the meaning. [The Truth: Only lately I stumbled over the internet found the real meaning of Hoklo ~ it's the 'Chaozhou' {Mandarin} people 潮州人 aka Teow Chew people.]

Blunder #3 ~ When you think you are Bananaz and can get away with English on old folks right? Nope, we were walking home after primary school with a classmate and approaching right in front of us was a huge lady. My friend spelled out the three letter word in English ~ F.A.T. to me. Seconds later we heard machine guns rattling, got shelling from her left and right.."You 'AngMohSai' think very clever used English thought I cannot understand huh..ta..ta..ta..#%&**)+*!~@&". Oops 'Padan muka betul'! (serve us right).

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ക Name Calling

Before peeling of Bananaz thoughts begins, probably need to quantify & qualify the Bananaz People into various condition to evaluate the severity of 'white thoughts'. Need to go back three generations, how about classifying them into three categories by way of sizzling steak ~ "RARE, MEDIUM and WELL DONE" BANANAZ. For easy reference "Chinaman" refers to those educated in the Chinese medium and "Bananaz" refers to the English educated.

The RARE - First (Grandparents) and Second generation(Parents) are 'Chinaman' and the Third generation are Bananaz. [Gen1.Chinaman, Gen2.Chinaman, Gen3.Bananaz]. This is where I belong, I'm the Rare Bananaz.

The MEDIUM- First generation (Grandparents) are 'Chinaman' with the Second generation (Parents) and Third generation are Bananaz. [Gen1.Chinaman, Gen2.Bananaz, Gen3.Bananaz]

The WELL DONE - All Three generations (Grandparents/Parents/Children) are Bananaz. [Gen1.Bananaz, Gen2.Bananaz, Gen3.Bananaz]

So where are you? TRAPPED in the wrong peels or the wrong shells meaning an Egg, white on the outside, yellow on the inside - referring to mixed marriages with Westerners. This is very common in Hong Kong and click HERE for more related details on Eggs, which I have borrowed some of her thoughts. This does not take into account of those mixed marriages between the other races, religion or nationality as not to complicate matters.

Have to make my point very clear that this blog is not meant to ridicule any "Chinaman" to be worst off or the "Bananaz" as better people will keep my level best to remain nuetral with no malicious thoughts intended. Back to the real purpose of this blog is towards the sharing of the thoughts of Bananaz without fear or favor. I have mentioned earlier to post on names calling between the two sides, here you go..

The battle of the Titans : Name Calling

Bananaz: are referred to as "Xiangjiaoren" 香蕉人 [Mandarin] {BananaPeople} or sometimes "Wàng běn" 忘本 [Mandarin] {Forget your roots} and the "AngMohSai" [Hokkien] {Caucasian sh*t}. How this "AngMohSai" came about is people presume and take for granted Bananaz will do everything the Caucasian way eat,sleep,talk,think and whatsoever inclusive of the sh*t. Sticks and stones may break my bones but not name calling. Come to think of it I've got used to whatever names being thrown at over the years.

Chinaman: Bananaz hit back at them calling name like "Shì bù shì" 是不是 [Mandarin]{YesNoYes} or simply Chinaman.

Just out of curiosity (no offence intended) any idea what will people call an Indian who is educated in English and knows nothing about read and write Tamil?

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ക T.G.I.FRI-ed Bananaz

Chinese Names - Annie Wan (Anyone)

Caller: Hello, can I speak to Annie Wan?

Operator: Yes, you can speak to me.

Caller: No, I want to speak to Annie Wan!

Operator: You are talking to someone! Who is this?

Caller: I'm Sam Wan. And I need to talk to Annie Wan! It's urgent.

Operator: I know you are someone and you want to talk to anyone! But what's this urgent matter about?

Caller: Well... just tell my sister Annie Wan that our brother Noe Wan was involved in an accident. Noe Wan got injured and now Noe Wan is being sent to the hospital. Right now, Avery Wan is on his way to the hospital.

Operator: Look if no one was injured and no one was sent to the hospital, then the accident isn't an urgent matter! You may find this hilarious but I don't have time for this!

Caller: You are so rude! Who are you?

Operator: I'm Saw Ree.

Caller : Yes! You should be sorry. Now give me your name!

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ക MONKEY & BANANA STORY ON COMPANY POLICY

Monkey & Banana Story On Company Policy

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold

water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, turn off the cold water.

Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

Again, replace a third original monkey with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well. Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys that have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs.

WHY NOT?

Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been around here.

And that's how Company policy begins ...

Source: www.businessballs.com

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ക T.G.I.FRI-ed Bananaz

Its TGIF lets have fun let our hair down complete your work wan' go home and enjoy a peeling weekend.

"Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" is a traditional Jamaican folk song, made popular by Harry Belafonte. It is a song about the dock workers on a night shift hurrying to complete the job and wanna go home the next morning.

Day-o, day-ay-ay-o

Daylight come and he wan' go home

Work all night on a drink of rum

(Daylight come and he wan' go home)

Stack banana till the morning come

(Daylight come and he wan' go home)

Come, Mr. Tally Man, tally me banana

(Daylight come and he wan' go home)

Come, Mr. Tally Man, tally me banana

(Daylight come and he wan' go home)

It's six foot, seven foot, eight foot, BUNCH!

(Daylight come and he wan' go home)

Six foot, seven foot, eight foot, BUNCH!

(Daylight come and he wan' go home)

Day, he say day-ay-ay-o

(Daylight come and he wan' go home)

Day, he say day-ay-ay-o ,

(Daylight come and he wan' go home)

Day, he say day, he say day, he say day

(Daylight come and he wan' go home)

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ക White Thoughts..Yellow Skin

November 03 2009 a great Bananic day for this maiden post. Don't get me wrong when I refer 'white thoughts..yellow skin' that does not connect me to be a racist just emphasising on the colors of nature. Some brief introduction on "Banana People" or in Mandarin "香蕉人" {xiāngjiāorén} according to the MDBG Chinese-English Dictionary - "banana person (yellow outside, white inside) / mildly pejorative term used by Chinese for assimilated Asian Americans / Westernized person of Asian appearance". Our parents may have their own specific reasons to send us to English schools. Sometimes Bananaz are ridiculed by the acronym of 'OCBC' Bank - 'Orang China Bukan China' meaning "Chinese but not Chinese". There are many criteria to be considered bona fide Chinese, but the most important of all is not to "wàng běn"{忘本} forget your roots. The wise men said, "if you don't speak or write the Chinese language "méiwèntí" {没问题} no problem, can learn and pick up later but most crucial must know how to write your own Chinese name in full." That's easy Bananaz..yoo hoo..!!!For those Bananaz or non Chinese who have all the passion and burning desire to learn how to read, write and speak Mandarin language this is a must weblog for you, click HERE for your online lessons with MeiChun lǎoshī who is committed to share her invaluable experiences.

MeiChun Jones (Jeannie)

This Is It..have to end here and will try to gather what the "names calling" from English educated vs Mandarin educated in my next post. Would like to share this brilliant poem that I found in one of the dormant blog "Short Horse Tales" in which author, LeeMeiEe expressed her Bananaz feelings superbly. Learning is for learning sake and its for one self and nobody can ever take that knowledge away from you. I have to agree to her point we cannot take care of too many things in life moreover I am also SAM - 'Saya Anak Malaysia', even though my beloved mama said I came from a stone most likely I suspected from Jupiter; would be even better if from Krypton then I'll be SuperBananaz.

BANANA PEOPLE

We are named after this beloved fruit

Whose skin outside is yellow to suit,

Whose fruit inside is white as off-white could be,

How? You might wonder, did this stereotype come to be?

Well, we too, sport a yellow skin,

But our tongues wag white, which is not in kin

“If you don’t speak Chinese….,” so they say,

“You are not Chinese enough!” and that’s the way.

Our own kind deem to treat us like weed,

And that hurts very much indeed,

We dream of a nation united, is always the case,

But how could that be, when united we are not as a race?

Call us whatever name you like,

Banana People are strong as a dyke

Within us, there is NO colour divide

Within us, UNITY will reach far and wide

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