The power of the word

"Of all the powerful weapons of destruction that man has invented, the most terrible – and the most cowardly – is the word."- Paulo Coelho

I enjoy reading quotes; they are usually precise and influential.

To me, word is:














...and many more.

What made the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination against race, colour, sex, religion and national origin related to voting, employment and public services throughout America?

It was because of a young American pastor believed that all men were created equal, and publicly dreamt about his four little children would one day live in a nation where they would not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.

What brought down the Berlin Wall? It was by an unintentional, yet powerful mistake. On 9 November, 1989, Günter Schabowski was asked by a reporter at the end of a press conference that when a new law permitting GDR citizens more freedom of travel would take effect. Without being informed in advance, he assumed that it would be on the same day of the regulation notes being handed, he then said,"As far as I know effective immediately, without delay."

Later the same night, thousands of East Berliners rushed to the Wall and tried to climb over it, left the guards with on choice but to open the gate to let the people into West Berlin.

What cost Chinese human right activist Tan Zuoren 5 years in jail? He was accused of "inciting subversion of state power" after publicly questioning why so many schools collapsed in 2008 Sichuan earthquake-while other buildings around them remained standing. Many speculated that the poor construction of the schools was because of corruption.

Imprisonment is probably one of the best ways to shut a powerful vocal critic up.

All the above people, including the words they said, have had great impacts on history and our society.

Now then, what about the powerful words in our daily life? They are usually simple, yet striking and magical.

A person who once meant a lot to me had a problem that many of us have in common-being reluctant to apologise with saying "I am sorry".

The only time when I heard it, my heart was melted in an instant, and tears were running down from my eyes. (was it implying that the effectiveness of words has something to do with its frequency of usage?)

What words in daily life are the most powerful to you?

It's just ketchup

One day, I was interested in writing a post about English words of Chinese origin. I remembered it was a typhoon night, I went to consult this professor who lived across the street from me. I heard her playing mahjong with her friends when I pressed the doorbell.

When she finally opened the door, she was wearing a yellow silk cheongsam with pink lychee patterns on it, holding a cup of Oolong and said,"Chop-Chop! Come on in!"

"Sorry to bother you this late but I just want to ask you about..."I noticed that there was a blood stain on her collar, so I asked,"did he beat you again?" She checked it with a mirror but then quickly said,"oh, no, no...it is just ketchup, I was eating chips the other day..."

Poor lady, she was probably brainwashed by her conservative mother that all ugly truth of the family should be kept as secrets. "So, what brings you here again?"



I know, what a strange story! Please try to find the words that you think are from Chinese.

Highlight here to make the answers visible!

Did you find 9? Excellent!

1. Typhoon
2. Mahjong
3. Silk
4. Cheongsam
5. Lychee
6. Oolong
7. Chop Chop
8. Ketchup
9. Brainwash

Hand Gestures

Home Sweet Home.

I am back.

In Italy, I was trying to speak with an Italian family, but after failing to hold a conversation in Italian for more than 3 minutes, I switched to sign language; yes, the famous Italian hand gestures.

...and it worked.

I even bought a book called Supplemento al dizionario italiano (Supplement to the italian dictionary) to understand this interesting culture better.

Here are a few unforgettable gestures taught by the book:

1. Che vuoi? (What do you expect?)





Shake your hand up and down, depends on how impatient you are!



2. Bere (A drink)






3. Che peso! (What a bore!)

Tap your hand slowly against your chest to show that the thing or the person is boring enough to cause indigestion!

In Chinese culture, people don't use hand gestures as much as Westerners; but we do have hand gestures for number 1-10:

Jokes

The summer sun is not merciful here in Hong Kong; I am running away for three weeks.

Going to three countries where hopefully, in one of them I can practice my hopeless Italian. For the other two, I am going to use sign language.

I have been reading some jokes about these countries as the starter of my journey.

Belgium:

How do you drive a Belgian crazy?

Lock him in a circular room and tell him there's frites at the next corner.

Germany:

Do you know why Germans build such high-quality products?

So they won't have to go around being nice while they fix them.

Italy:

How do you shut up an Italian?

Tie their hands behind their backs.

I hope they didn't offend you, but made you laugh...but just to be fair, here is a Chinese one:

Why would the world have been a better place if Adam and Eve were Chinese?

Because they would have eaten the snake instead of the apple.

Funny Cantonese Animal Slangs

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about funny animal names. This time, I am quite interested in looking into the Cantonese slang related to animals.

Before I started this post, I was writing down as many slangs as I could think of, and was quite surprised to find out I could came out with at least 10 within 1 minute...

蛇王 (C-sèh-wohng)

Snake King-call a lazy person a Snake King, because a snake likes to curl up its body and rest.

色狼 (C-sīk-lòhng)

Colour Wolf-the equivalent in English is horndog.

In Buddhist terms, "colour" refers to all sort of materialistic things that evoke desires-especially sexual desire.

Wolf symbolises evil and greed (think about the wolf in The Three Little Pigs, also the one in Red Riding Hood)

A Colour Wolf means a person has a greed for sex.

失魂魚 (C-sāt-wàhn-yú)

Terrified fish-call a panic person a terrified fish. We all know how a terrified fish acts like-it turns around and swims away like a flash of lightning.

笑面虎 (C-siu-mihn-fú)

Smile Face Tiger-call a hypocritical person a Smile Face Tiger; usually it is to describe a person who seems to be kind but is actually wicked.

扮豬吃老虎 (C-Baan-jyū-sihk-lóuh-fú)

Disguised as a pig, and eats a tiger-to describe a person plays dumb in order to manipulate other people.

What Made My Day

In the morning, Charlotte, my 8-year-old student, gave me a big hug, followed by a kiss on my face, then she told me,

" Nǐ shì wǒ zuì xǐhuan de lăoshī!"

*你是我最喜欢的老师！

You are my favourite teacher!

And because I am her favourite teacher, I deserved this cute puppy that she got from Ocean Park yesterday, and I was allowed to bring it home.

This is one of my best days in my life :-)

Emilie Story Part II

十一月二十二日 雨


我說明一下。

每晚，我做一樣的夢。

夢裡，我和一個女人在街上一起走路。我不知道她的名字，我不知道她幾歲，但是我認識她。

夢裡，我們常常走路，那條街很長。

那時常常是日落，城裡沒有人，只有我們。

這個女人常常有重要的事要說，不過她從來不說。

然後，我醒來。

不過昨天，在電影院裡，我看見了她，但是她正在離開

最後她不見了。