இ Chinese Kinship

Two men struck up a conversation in a pub and one of them kept complaining of family problems with 同父異母 *tóng fù yì mǔ* 'same father but different mothers'. Finally the other man said: "You think you have family problems? Listen to my situation". "A few years ago, I met a young widow with a grown-up daughter, we got married and I got myself a step-daughter. Later, my father married my step-daughter. That made my step-daughter my step-mother and my father became my step-son. Also, my wife became mother-in-law of her father-in-law." "Much later the daughter of my wife, my step-mother had a son. This boy was my half brother because he was my...

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இ 未见过大蛇屙屎..Big Snake Defecate

Bananaz wanted to have a comprehensive insurance so asked for offers hoping to get C&G *cheap&good* protection. The first company offered: "From cradle to grave" but the second was better: "From womb to tomb." Bananaz was just about to take this when a third company came up with the ultimate offer: "From erection to resurrection!" Here goes the three presentations: The first presenter 'From cradle to grave' said, "When one of our insured died suddenly on Monday, we got the news that evening and were able to process the claim for the wife and had mailed a cheque on Wednesday evening". The second presenter 'From...

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இ 天下第一 No.1

Human(e) Race.. [A few years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics, nice contestants all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with relish to run the race to finish and win. All that is except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back. Then they all turned around and went back..every one of them. One girl with Down's Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better." Then all nine linked arms and...

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இ Get Down?

Get Down or Get Out? In the above Humorous Speech Contest, Marianna Pascal, a renowned writer and trainer on communication skills, presented her speech with great enthusiaism and clarity regarding our local varieties of English or rather Chinglish aka Manglish. To the language experts they may have thorns pricking their ear drums when words like 'what lah you' or 'where got' wriggles through their ears. Some how for those seasoned speakers/listeners of Chinglish/Manglish it would be the least disturbing. Just to touch on one point from the video where most Chinese would agree our mom & dad said this umpteenth times since the day we were...

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இ Cobwebs

It was a great pleasure & pressure at the recent Bloggers Gathering for the very first time with Isaac, Simple Person , SK, Small Kucing, Twilight Man & Suituapui (couple of times already) as most of them were 'complaining' about seeing cobwebs in Bananaz's blog. So sorry folks Bananaz been MIA for quite some time since CNY. Bananaz's blog may be cobwebbed but definitely not abandoned. Surely and slowly will be back pretty soon to beat Twilight Man (TM) before he makes his drastic move. Here is what TM commented ~ "Oh dear, this blog has full of cobwebs in 4 corners! Spiderman wasn't here, was he??Gosh!...

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இ Year of 蛇 Snake 2013

The Water Snake slithers in un-officially after midnight on 04Feb2013 according to the solar calendar referred to as Lìchūn立春 *pinyin*.  Traditionally Lìchūn or Laap Chun in Cantonese signifies the beginning of spring in East Asian cultures with special village events, worship and offerings to the gods and ceremonies for a blissful and prosperous new year.  It marks the beginning of another cycle for being the very first day of spring when the sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 315 ° which is divided into 24 solar terms in a year. However the Chinese New Year which is based on a ...

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இ Tireless Tyre

How many of us really take an interest in the tires or tyres we put on our car?  Tyres can seem awfully technical (how many of us know our tyre size or minimum speed rating?). Who has the time to get educated on a new tyre purchase but to depend on our local tyre store or auto dealer for good advice? Well, we’d all agree with the old saying that “an informed consumer is a good consumer”. Would it not be better if you know what questions to ask after a little research? Most likely you can get a much better tyre for your needs, dramatically improve your performance and driving satisfaction, save you money and might even save your life. You...

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இ 人有三急 : URGENCY

When Bananaz was a little boy will often hear family members coming back home rushing through the front door  yelling *人有三急 rén yǒu sān jí [pinyin]; jan4 jau6 saam3 gap1 [cantonese] : lit. 'people have 3 urgency'* and heading straight to the toilet in a jiffy.  Instead of saying 'excuse me' the message was loud and clear enough for us to make way for the 100m sprinter to dash through. Living in a home where Mandarin and Chinese dialects monopolized all communication with hardly any English, Bananaz will only have to silently adapt with open ears. Knowing pretty well *人有三急 rén yǒu sān jí  : lit. 'people have 3...

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ക WhyAskWhy¿ (13) Ah Long 大耳窿 *Big Ear Hole*

Strange enough this name 'Ah Long' has been accepted en masse by a wide variety of ethnic groups in Malaysia. WhyAskWhy on the origin of this notorious name for money lender aka Loan Shark come into existence? Hearsay the name originated from Hong Kong where those days  the person who loans out money are called Chettiars, who love piercing their ears and wearing big earring. As years go by the hole at the ear lobe stretches bigger and bigger. The same effect would apply to the loan that they give out as most borrowers are unable to repay the loan when the compounded loan amount gets bigger and bigger, just like the...

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