Posts by Sam Duncan

I've always been a fan of palindromes, but never expected to run into translations of Napolean's supposed quote "Able was I ere I saw Elba" as palindromes in Chinese.

The above note, written by a friend, gives two palindromic translations: 若非孤岛孤非若 (ruòfēigūdǎogūfēiruò), which translates word-for-word as "were it not for isolated island, lonely would not be"; and 落败孤岛孤败落 (luòbàigūdǎogūbàiluò), literally "leaving behind isolated island, loneliness declines".

I found this gem of a poster stuck on the back wall of the grimy kitchen in my new apartment in Daqing, Heilongjiang. It's titled 20个不能混吃的食物 (bùnénghùnchīdeshíwù) or "20 Food Combinations to Avoid", and seems to be the paper from a now-closed Harbin restaurant food tray. My favourites are number 5: rabbit meat + celery = lose your hair (兔肉 tùròu＋芹菜 qíncài＝脱发 tuōfà); number 10: crab + persimmon = diarrhoea (蟹 xiè＋柿子 shìzi＝腹泻 fùxiè); and number 16: tofu + honey = deafness (豆腐 dòufu＋蜂蜜 fēngmì＝耳聋 ěrlóng).

虎毒不食子 (hǔdúbùshízǐ) – As vicious as a tiger is, it doesn’t eat its own cubs. This is used to talk about parents who harm their own children. It suggests that those who do are worse than beasts, always a big smackdown in Chinese.

兔子不吃窝边草 (tùzibùchīwōbiāncǎo) – A rabbit doesn’t eat the grass close to its burrow. Don’t make trouble close to home. That means being good to your neighbours, but it can also be used about dating classmates or colleagues.

After looking up macaque and finding out that it's a kind of monkey, I had a good chuckle to myself over the Chinese calling kiwifruit macaque peach, 猕猴桃 (mí hóu táo). What a silly name, I thought – maybe they look like the back of a monkey’s head? The Baidu Baike page on macaque peaches says they are so named because macaques consider the fruit one of their favourite forest delicacies. It even has some peeling methods, with helpful pictures.