Saturday, October 13, 2007

Want tofu?


The "T" (as in Tao) has a "D" sound.....Tao sounds like the English word: dow.

The Wade-Giles textbook and dictionary was developed by Thomas Francis Wade, a British ambassador in China and Chinese scholar who was the first professor of Chinese at Cambridge University. Wade published the first Chinese dictionary in English in 1867. The system was refined in 1912 by Herbert Allen Giles, a British diplomat in China.

In Chinese the subtle differences in pronunciation are effected primarily by where the tongue is placed in the mouth (among other issues.....I am keeping this simple) to make a "T" sound or a "D" sound. When the Wade-Giles dictionary made its way to western shores, their eyes saw a "T" and pronounced it as such. However, this is incorrect and continues to this day to be a mistake.

Now, if you want to wow your waiter the next time you order Chinese food, and want to order a Tofu dish.....pronounce it like this: doh foo. There might even be an extra bonus when your waiter tells you that you speak Chinese very well!

By the way: Dou means bean and fu means fermented, Voila! Fermented bean curd = tofu!

Bon apetit!

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Clearing out, clearing up......Or the Tao of crap

At last the fog of too much crap is lifting.
Years ago I thought I wanted to have antique furniture in my life. Things change.
Now I want Shaker-Zen style.
There is no longer room in my space for heavy, space hogging furniture.
I am shoving the crap out the door.

I have found a buyer for my PC. Next is the buffet, a desk, a rock maple chest of drawers, a small writing desk and motorcycle jackets and a helmet. Maybe a boom-box type stereo.

Ok, so I am moving my crap out of my life. Someone else will want my crap. I can't control what kind of crap I get in this life, but I can certainly decide to expect GOOD crap.

The crap that some other people get will almost certainly be less crappy than the crap I get. That's just the way it goes. Before you get too bitchy about it, evaluate the grievance: It's not like you're being detained without trial in Guantanamo; you're just unhappy with a piece of life that was clearly labeled crap. In the hierarchy of injustices, this is not a biggie.

Step forward and buy my crap because it is probably better than the crap you have. And then I can get newer and better crap. And then you will have newer and better crap. See how swell this works!