I just saw this in my feed:
Polygamous towns rebuilding library
Quotable quote: "The books in the Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., library mysteriously disappeared years ago.... The area is home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which owned and controlled nearly every aspect of the community. Some suspect FLDS leader Warren Jeffs ordered the library closed and the books destroyed. "
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
LOC, NLA & Flickr
The Library of Congress recently announced its collaboration with Flickr and I was asked what was the difference between the two. While both are partnerships with Flickr, the main differences are:
1. Photo sources: LOC picks from its own collections while NLA's Picture Australia pulls thumbnails from participating institutions and invites the public to share their photos.
2. Participation: NLA invites photo submissions from the public, while LOC's intent is to let users identify & tag photos. This restriction had garnered some negative reaction from at least one source, e.g. "After I got over my first reaction of "Wow, that's cool," I couldn't help but ask myself why the LOC would want to do this. I've got a hunch it's looking for free labor to help identify and expand its collection that contains a large number of unidentified and unclassified photos."
3. Search: LOC uses Flickr's native search engine. Picture Australia has its own search engine: "Picture Australia is a federated picture research discovery tool hosted by the National Library of Australia.... Result sets are returned as one or more pages of thumbnail images gathered in real time directly from contributors’ web sites. This allows each agency to retain management of its own images and metadata."
I have not looked into the IPR & copyright issues, so I won't comment on the similarities & differences.
Rambling Librarian has also blogged that there's a difference between "working with Flickr" (only NLA & LOC so far) and "using Flickr" (many libraries).
In work with Flickr, folks have to be cognizant of the different ways things can pan out even though the intentions are good. For instance, I find it strange that no one complained about NLA 'making use' of the public to boost its collection, while the PC World post branded LOC's community tagging approach as using cheap labour to do tagging & identification work.
1. Photo sources: LOC picks from its own collections while NLA's Picture Australia pulls thumbnails from participating institutions and invites the public to share their photos.
2. Participation: NLA invites photo submissions from the public, while LOC's intent is to let users identify & tag photos. This restriction had garnered some negative reaction from at least one source, e.g. "After I got over my first reaction of "Wow, that's cool," I couldn't help but ask myself why the LOC would want to do this. I've got a hunch it's looking for free labor to help identify and expand its collection that contains a large number of unidentified and unclassified photos."
3. Search: LOC uses Flickr's native search engine. Picture Australia has its own search engine: "Picture Australia is a federated picture research discovery tool hosted by the National Library of Australia.... Result sets are returned as one or more pages of thumbnail images gathered in real time directly from contributors’ web sites. This allows each agency to retain management of its own images and metadata."
I have not looked into the IPR & copyright issues, so I won't comment on the similarities & differences.
Rambling Librarian has also blogged that there's a difference between "working with Flickr" (only NLA & LOC so far) and "using Flickr" (many libraries).
In work with Flickr, folks have to be cognizant of the different ways things can pan out even though the intentions are good. For instance, I find it strange that no one complained about NLA 'making use' of the public to boost its collection, while the PC World post branded LOC's community tagging approach as using cheap labour to do tagging & identification work.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Train disruption!
I was caught in a major disruption of train services this morning, and the first sign that something was amiss was when I saw my colleague (RD) walking in the 'wrong' direction, as if she was headed home.
This was the sight that greeted me when I arrived at the MRT station. SMRT staff were diverting commuters to the free shuttle bus service behind the station:
I didn't see any cabs at all, so I made my way to the shuttle bus queue.... which was massive. And the sun was merciless....
A long "bendy-bus" soon arrived but I couldn't get in as it filled up very quickly. I heard a loud commotion from the front end, and realised that it was the driver (2nd guy from the left in the purple shirt with left arm raised) pleading with the frustrated crowd to let him get off to take a leak. He kept shouting, "Excuse me, I need to go toilet first! Excuse me!!!". I found it strange that he couldn't 'tahan' a short trip between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah, since his bus was holding up the entire road and cars were honking at the back of his bus.
This was the same bus as the one above, and you could see the morning crowd trying their best to board it.
Some folks were reluctant to get off the steps to allow the doors to close properly, in spite of the SMRT staff's repeated requests.
When I finally boarded the shuttle bus, it was already 8.40am, and I thought I would be at Tanah Merah in minutes. How wrong I was. The bus made a stop at each MRT station in between, and by the time I arrived at Tanah Merah MRT station, it was 50 minutes later. No wonder the poor bus driver had to pee before he drove his next shift.
The station was rather empty, since it was about 9.50am...
... and so was the train:
At this juncture, my colleague PS told me via SMS that he heard about this disruption over the radio. This was also echoed in the
Channel News Asia website, which stated that "the disruption was caused by the breakdown of a maintenance works train which was carrying out works between Tampines and Simei (westbound) MRT stations".
I arrived at my station at about 10.20am. As I stepped into the cafeteria below my office, I was told by the cashier that a customer of hers had told her that he was on the train that ran over a 'jumper' at Tampines station,but there is no way I can verify this rumour independently which turned out to be a false rumour as there was a photo in Stomp which showed the maintenance train that broke down and caused the jam.
MRT services between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah stations disrupted
Posted: 21 January 2008 1023 hrs
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/323852/1/.html
"There are no westbound and eastbound train services between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah MRT Stations from early Monday morning. SMRT says the disruption was caused by the breakdown of a maintenance works train which was carrying out works between Tampines and Simei MRT stations. The first eastbound train departing Tanah Merah Station at 5.16am was the first to be affected. Bus bridging services are now ferrying passengers between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah MRT Stations."
MRT services between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah stations resume
Posted: 21 January 2008 1354 hrs
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/323882/1/.html
SINGAPORE : MRT services between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah stations have resumed after a seven hour disruption. Westbound and eastbound services between the two stations were affected from the start of operations at 5.28am till 12.45pm. SMRT Corporation says the disruption was caused by the breakdown of a maintenance works train which was carrying out works between Tampines and Simei (westbound) MRT stations. About 57,000 passengers were affected. During the disruption, bus bridging services were activated to ferry passengers between the two stations. Westbound shuttle trains were also put into place at a 28-minute interval to ease passenger flow at Tampines and Simei MRT stations.
Read the Official press release by SMRT
The Stomp article with photos of the maintenance train that broke down and caused the train service disruption.
This was the sight that greeted me when I arrived at the MRT station. SMRT staff were diverting commuters to the free shuttle bus service behind the station:
I didn't see any cabs at all, so I made my way to the shuttle bus queue.... which was massive. And the sun was merciless....
A long "bendy-bus" soon arrived but I couldn't get in as it filled up very quickly. I heard a loud commotion from the front end, and realised that it was the driver (2nd guy from the left in the purple shirt with left arm raised) pleading with the frustrated crowd to let him get off to take a leak. He kept shouting, "Excuse me, I need to go toilet first! Excuse me!!!". I found it strange that he couldn't 'tahan' a short trip between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah, since his bus was holding up the entire road and cars were honking at the back of his bus.
This was the same bus as the one above, and you could see the morning crowd trying their best to board it.
Some folks were reluctant to get off the steps to allow the doors to close properly, in spite of the SMRT staff's repeated requests.
When I finally boarded the shuttle bus, it was already 8.40am, and I thought I would be at Tanah Merah in minutes. How wrong I was. The bus made a stop at each MRT station in between, and by the time I arrived at Tanah Merah MRT station, it was 50 minutes later. No wonder the poor bus driver had to pee before he drove his next shift.
The station was rather empty, since it was about 9.50am...
... and so was the train:
At this juncture, my colleague PS told me via SMS that he heard about this disruption over the radio. This was also echoed in the
Channel News Asia website, which stated that "the disruption was caused by the breakdown of a maintenance works train which was carrying out works between Tampines and Simei (westbound) MRT stations".
I arrived at my station at about 10.20am. As I stepped into the cafeteria below my office, I was told by the cashier that a customer of hers had told her that he was on the train that ran over a 'jumper' at Tampines station,
~ ~ ~
MRT services between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah stations disrupted
Posted: 21 January 2008 1023 hrs
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/323852/1/.html
"There are no westbound and eastbound train services between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah MRT Stations from early Monday morning. SMRT says the disruption was caused by the breakdown of a maintenance works train which was carrying out works between Tampines and Simei MRT stations. The first eastbound train departing Tanah Merah Station at 5.16am was the first to be affected. Bus bridging services are now ferrying passengers between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah MRT Stations."
MRT services between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah stations resume
Posted: 21 January 2008 1354 hrs
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/323882/1/.html
SINGAPORE : MRT services between Pasir Ris and Tanah Merah stations have resumed after a seven hour disruption. Westbound and eastbound services between the two stations were affected from the start of operations at 5.28am till 12.45pm. SMRT Corporation says the disruption was caused by the breakdown of a maintenance works train which was carrying out works between Tampines and Simei (westbound) MRT stations. About 57,000 passengers were affected. During the disruption, bus bridging services were activated to ferry passengers between the two stations. Westbound shuttle trains were also put into place at a 28-minute interval to ease passenger flow at Tampines and Simei MRT stations.
Read the Official press release by SMRT
The Stomp article with photos of the maintenance train that broke down and caused the train service disruption.
Friday, January 18, 2008
To: All Newspaper Subscribers...
I happened to read yesterday's newspapers early this morning, and as I was separating the various sections of the Straits Times, a piece of paper slipped out and landed on the table.
It was a note from the newspaper vendor, typewritten in English and Chinese. Here's what the English version read, and I quote (all emphasis are by the newspaper vendor):
My initial reaction was: "Wow! That sounded like the vendor ripped off lines from recent statements justifying the taxi fare hikes and ministerial pay raises!".... except that bit, "The revised monthly delivery fees will increase $1.00" which sounded like the boss himself (whom I spoke to over the phone before) decided to have it his way.
I showed the notice to my colleauge LL and she observed that the Chinese version was also very well-written, with Chinese proverbs as well. And like the English version, the Chinese version had the same grammatical error: "The revised monthly delivery fees will increase $1.00" instead of "The revised monthly delivery fees will be increased by $1.00".
Thank goodness all the hawkers and merchants who had to raise prices in the last few months did not put up long notices like this to justify their fee hikes.
It was a note from the newspaper vendor, typewritten in English and Chinese. Here's what the English version read, and I quote (all emphasis are by the newspaper vendor):
To: All Newspaper Subscribers,
Our nation has enjoyed good economic growth over the past few years. Along with this, labour became a scarce resource especially for the news vendoring trade. Deliverymen are required to start work in the early morning distributing heavy stacks of newspapers from door to door. Hence the job nature made it even difficult to source for labour help. In our effort to ensure prompt delivery of newspapers to subscribers, wages of deliverymen had to be adjusted thus adding to the increasing operation cost. Other aspects of the operation such as transportation cost has also raised sharply over the past years. Newsvendors have started collecting a small amount of delivery fees from subscribers since 1994 to offset the raising cost. However the charges for delivery fees had remained unadjusted for the past 14 years.
In view of the above, our agency seeks your kind understanding. We will be adjusting our delivery fees with effect from January 2008. The revised monthly delivery fees will increase $1.00.
We hope to have your full support on the above and we assure you our best service to you always.
My initial reaction was: "Wow! That sounded like the vendor ripped off lines from recent statements justifying the taxi fare hikes and ministerial pay raises!".... except that bit, "The revised monthly delivery fees will increase $1.00" which sounded like the boss himself (whom I spoke to over the phone before) decided to have it his way.
I showed the notice to my colleauge LL and she observed that the Chinese version was also very well-written, with Chinese proverbs as well. And like the English version, the Chinese version had the same grammatical error: "The revised monthly delivery fees will increase $1.00" instead of "The revised monthly delivery fees will be increased by $1.00".
Thank goodness all the hawkers and merchants who had to raise prices in the last few months did not put up long notices like this to justify their fee hikes.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Bringing closure to account closure
This afternoon, I had to make a trip down to a bank in town to close a personal line of credit account which came with my credit card and which I have never used. It was the culmination of a month's frustrating experience which started around 18 Dec 07, when I first submitted the account closure form.
There were several correspondences between me and the bank as the backroom folks from the Singapore Ops Centre (S.O.C.) felt that my signatures did not match the original in their system. And I said 'signatures' because my form got rejected twice for the same reason.
In addition, I kept getting 'late' payment notices while waiting for the account to be closed, and the credit department's customer service officers had no clue about the 2 rejections of my signatures because the bank apparently did not have a CRM system to track what was going on between them and the customers. Reason given: it's on a 'need to know basis'. Gimme a break!
So when the bank teller at the Dhoby Ghaut branch told me that she couldn't see any difference between the signatures in the system, the 3 closure forms I had signed to date, I was really cheesed off, and I remarked, "So.... the only party who have problems reconciling the signatures is your S.O.C. right?". And immediately, the teller raised one eyebrow and asked, "Er... are you ex-staff?". That told me a lot about the internal view of the S.O.C. :-)
When I asked if I could see this little fiasco with my own eyes, she told me that: (a) her system did not allow customer details to be printed (fine), (b) she could not turn her monitor to show my personal details to me as the flat screen LCD monitor could not swivel (good grief!). But she convinced me that it was not necessary to change the signature in the bank's system as my credit card transactions won't be affected by it.
Just when I was about to leave the counter, the teller asked me out of the blue, "You're not closing your credit card account, right?". I turned around, smiled and said, "No. Please leave it alone. ".
Thank goodness I don't deposit my money in this bank!
There were several correspondences between me and the bank as the backroom folks from the Singapore Ops Centre (S.O.C.) felt that my signatures did not match the original in their system. And I said 'signatures' because my form got rejected twice for the same reason.
In addition, I kept getting 'late' payment notices while waiting for the account to be closed, and the credit department's customer service officers had no clue about the 2 rejections of my signatures because the bank apparently did not have a CRM system to track what was going on between them and the customers. Reason given: it's on a 'need to know basis'. Gimme a break!
So when the bank teller at the Dhoby Ghaut branch told me that she couldn't see any difference between the signatures in the system, the 3 closure forms I had signed to date, I was really cheesed off, and I remarked, "So.... the only party who have problems reconciling the signatures is your S.O.C. right?". And immediately, the teller raised one eyebrow and asked, "Er... are you ex-staff?". That told me a lot about the internal view of the S.O.C. :-)
When I asked if I could see this little fiasco with my own eyes, she told me that: (a) her system did not allow customer details to be printed (fine), (b) she could not turn her monitor to show my personal details to me as the flat screen LCD monitor could not swivel (good grief!). But she convinced me that it was not necessary to change the signature in the bank's system as my credit card transactions won't be affected by it.
Just when I was about to leave the counter, the teller asked me out of the blue, "You're not closing your credit card account, right?". I turned around, smiled and said, "No. Please leave it alone. ".
Thank goodness I don't deposit my money in this bank!
Monday, January 07, 2008
Wii have arrived...
I heard this commotion from one corner of the office and the inner kaypoh in me convinced my body to walk over to the source. Several of my colleagues were huddled around CW's workstation, and it seemed that some of our orders finally arrive!
These are the fruits of the division's hard work in 2006/7 as revenue-generating divs are permitted under regs to retain a small percentage of their annual revenue. So instead of the cliched big banquets or corporate wind breakers, we opted for electronics.
Here's CK holding up a Wii game while the rest of the gang are still in 'zombie descending on a hapless victim' frenzy in the background:
LL, one of the happy owners of a spanking new Wii. Say good bye to early nights and MSc dissertations!
DL holding up his choice of 3 Wii games that came bundled with his console:
The rest of us ordered iPod or Canon Digitial Ixus. I opted for the the camera as it's the only choice which is the least likely to cause me to spend more money over a long period of time. I mean, a Wii game can keep some players happy for months or days, and you'd invariably need to buy or trade new ones to keep the fun going. If I were to choose the Apple iPod, I would have to fork out $X per song if I were to buy songs from a licenced site, or risk getting a fine if I download them illegally or trade with frens. So the choice was clear....
These are the fruits of the division's hard work in 2006/7 as revenue-generating divs are permitted under regs to retain a small percentage of their annual revenue. So instead of the cliched big banquets or corporate wind breakers, we opted for electronics.
Here's CK holding up a Wii game while the rest of the gang are still in 'zombie descending on a hapless victim' frenzy in the background:
LL, one of the happy owners of a spanking new Wii. Say good bye to early nights and MSc dissertations!
DL holding up his choice of 3 Wii games that came bundled with his console:
The rest of us ordered iPod or Canon Digitial Ixus. I opted for the the camera as it's the only choice which is the least likely to cause me to spend more money over a long period of time. I mean, a Wii game can keep some players happy for months or days, and you'd invariably need to buy or trade new ones to keep the fun going. If I were to choose the Apple iPod, I would have to fork out $X per song if I were to buy songs from a licenced site, or risk getting a fine if I download them illegally or trade with frens. So the choice was clear....
Sunday, January 06, 2008
The *Best* Putu Piring
I can't believe I did this today. I actually queued for 55 minutes to buy 10 pieces of putu piring (a traditional Malay dessert) earlier this evening when I was out buying dinner!
The stall was opened fairly recently, and Singaporeans being Singaporeans, descended upon this new stall like there was no tomorrow. Maybe it's because the stallholder had been in this line since the 1970s in Bedok. Or maybe the putu piring was simply the best.
I actually placed my order *before* buying my dinner at 7.05pm, and the encik told me I was number 20 in the queue (but I'm making for number 13 now).
When I came back at about 7.15pm, the encik told me he was preparing the orders for customer number 17. By the time it was my turn to be collect my orders, it was already 8pm!
The stall was opened fairly recently, and Singaporeans being Singaporeans, descended upon this new stall like there was no tomorrow. Maybe it's because the stallholder had been in this line since the 1970s in Bedok. Or maybe the putu piring was simply the best.
I actually placed my order *before* buying my dinner at 7.05pm, and the encik told me I was number 20 in the queue (but I'm making for number 13 now).
When I came back at about 7.15pm, the encik told me he was preparing the orders for customer number 17. By the time it was my turn to be collect my orders, it was already 8pm!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
1984 taxi boycott?
I came across a mention about a 1984 'taxi boycott' in one of Mr Brown's postings (by way of Tomorrow.sg) and I wondered if this was indeed mentioned in any newspaper in 1984. Since the databases I usually refer to contain files up to 1985, I submitted a reference enquiry to NLB's Reference Point and received this detailed response which I thought was really good:
"Yes there was mention in the newspaper about a taxi fare hike and subsequent "boycotting" of taxis by the public, but this was in April 1985. You can refer to the journal articles below which analyse what happened.
1. Citation
Source: Singapore Business
Title: Taxi fares: an alternative proposal
Author: Wee Chow Hou and Mohd Abdur Razzaque
Issue Information: Vol. 9 Issue 5, May 1985
Page No.: 3-11
Total no of pgs: 9
Call No.: RCLOS 380.1095957 SB
Description: This article outlines the reasons behind the taxi fare hike, the details of the new fare structure, and a survey of the aftermath. It quotes a Straits Times article on 2nd April 1985 saying that on April 1st, the 1st day of the fare increase, the drop in taxi demand was 40-80%. The authors offer a new fare structure in light of this affair.
Availability: At Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. Please approach staff at level 11 information counter for assistance in retrieval.
Last accessed date: 02 Jan 2008
2. Citation
Source: Singapore Transport
Title: Future prospects of taxi service in Singapore
Author: Sam Chong Keen
Issue Information: Vol. 2 issue 4, September 1986
Page No.: 15-17
Total no of pgs: 3
Call No.: RSING 388.4095957 ST
Description: Gives a historical background on Singapore's taxi fleet and system from the perspective of NTUC Comfort, and describes the market conditions before 1985. It briefly mentions the fare hike and some possible plans for the future in light of the unexpected public reaction.
Availability: At Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, level 11, open shelf
Last accessed date: 02 Jan 2008
3. Citation
Name: JSTOR
Source: Asian Survey
Title: Singapore in 1985: Managing Political Transition and Economic Recession
Author: Chan Heng Chee
Issue Information: Vol. XXVI No. 2 Feb 1986
Page No.: 158-167
Total no of pgs: 10
Description: See page 162 which mentions the fare hike attempt.
Availability: JSTOR
Last accessed date: 02 Jan 2008
Hope you find the information useful."
"Yes there was mention in the newspaper about a taxi fare hike and subsequent "boycotting" of taxis by the public, but this was in April 1985. You can refer to the journal articles below which analyse what happened.
1. Citation
Source: Singapore Business
Title: Taxi fares: an alternative proposal
Author: Wee Chow Hou and Mohd Abdur Razzaque
Issue Information: Vol. 9 Issue 5, May 1985
Page No.: 3-11
Total no of pgs: 9
Call No.: RCLOS 380.1095957 SB
Description: This article outlines the reasons behind the taxi fare hike, the details of the new fare structure, and a survey of the aftermath. It quotes a Straits Times article on 2nd April 1985 saying that on April 1st, the 1st day of the fare increase, the drop in taxi demand was 40-80%. The authors offer a new fare structure in light of this affair.
Availability: At Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. Please approach staff at level 11 information counter for assistance in retrieval.
Last accessed date: 02 Jan 2008
2. Citation
Source: Singapore Transport
Title: Future prospects of taxi service in Singapore
Author: Sam Chong Keen
Issue Information: Vol. 2 issue 4, September 1986
Page No.: 15-17
Total no of pgs: 3
Call No.: RSING 388.4095957 ST
Description: Gives a historical background on Singapore's taxi fleet and system from the perspective of NTUC Comfort, and describes the market conditions before 1985. It briefly mentions the fare hike and some possible plans for the future in light of the unexpected public reaction.
Availability: At Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, level 11, open shelf
Last accessed date: 02 Jan 2008
3. Citation
Name: JSTOR
Source: Asian Survey
Title: Singapore in 1985: Managing Political Transition and Economic Recession
Author: Chan Heng Chee
Issue Information: Vol. XXVI No. 2 Feb 1986
Page No.: 158-167
Total no of pgs: 10
Description: See page 162 which mentions the fare hike attempt.
Availability: JSTOR
Last accessed date: 02 Jan 2008
Hope you find the information useful."
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
"Salty Pig Hand" (Hum ju sow) - part 3
See part 1 & part 2.
My quest for the origins of the "salty pig's hand" phrase has drawn a blank so far.
AND THEN, QQ*Librarian sent me a link to a Chinese webpage 咸猪手是什么意思 which had this origin story that sounded too 'clean' and artistic to be true (translation courtesy of QQ*Librarian, coz' my Chinese is rusty):
This story was cited in several websites. It started from a story about a man called Lu You who married Tang Wan. The two people spent their days idling after their marriage. The mother was very angry and forced Lu You to divorce Tang Wan. Tang Wan later married another man. One day, Lu You returned and Tang Wan, with her husband's permission, prepared food and wine in the garden to entertain Lu You. Lu You composed a poem beginning with "xian zhu shou" (salty pig's trotters). Later, Tang Wan changed certain words in the poem.
QQ also noted that this webpage didn't explain further how this poem ended up becoming to mean lecherous men. But it appears that one's mood affects one's interpretation of things. So "salty pig's trotters" is meant to refer to something disgusting or negative.
My quest for the origins of the "salty pig's hand" phrase has drawn a blank so far.
AND THEN, QQ*Librarian sent me a link to a Chinese webpage 咸猪手是什么意思 which had this origin story that sounded too 'clean' and artistic to be true (translation courtesy of QQ*Librarian, coz' my Chinese is rusty):
This story was cited in several websites. It started from a story about a man called Lu You who married Tang Wan. The two people spent their days idling after their marriage. The mother was very angry and forced Lu You to divorce Tang Wan. Tang Wan later married another man. One day, Lu You returned and Tang Wan, with her husband's permission, prepared food and wine in the garden to entertain Lu You. Lu You composed a poem beginning with "xian zhu shou" (salty pig's trotters). Later, Tang Wan changed certain words in the poem.
QQ also noted that this webpage didn't explain further how this poem ended up becoming to mean lecherous men. But it appears that one's mood affects one's interpretation of things. So "salty pig's trotters" is meant to refer to something disgusting or negative.
"Salty Pig Hand" (Hum ju sow) - part 2
See Part 1 of this post.
I sent out an email enquiry to NLB's Reference Point today:
"Hi. Is there any reference source which I can refer to for Cantonese phrases and their origins? I'm looking for the origins for the phrase, "hum ju sow" (or 'xian2 zhu1 shou3' in hanyu pinyin) which is transliterated as "salty pork/pig's hands" which refers to a lecherous man (I think). None of my Cantonese speaking friends have the answer. Thank you."
and receieved a prompt reply which gave me three titles which may contain the answer to my enquiry about the origins of "salty pig's hand":
Title: 追本穷源 : 粵语词汇趣谈
Author: 陈雄根
Publisher: 香港 : 三联书店, 2006.
Description: xiv, 220页 : 插图 ; 22公分.
Call Number: Chinese 495.17 CXG
Title: A Dictionary of Cantonese slang: the language of Hong Kong movies, street gangs and city life
Author: Christopher Hutton
Publisher: Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2005.
Description: xxiv, 492p.; 23m.
Call Number: English 495.17 HUT
Title: 广州话, 客家话, 潮汕话与普通话对照词典
Author: 欧阳觉亚 ... [et al.]
Publisher: [广州] : 广东人民出版社, 2005.
Description: 2, 18, 547页 ; 21公分.
Call Number: Chinese 495.17 GZH
Since my command of the Chinese language is rusty, I went to consult the sole English title in the list. As it turned out, it offered dozens of definitions about all phrases linked to the word, "haarm" (or "hum), which literally means "salty" but can refer to something or someone lewd or lecherous.
I sent out an email enquiry to NLB's Reference Point today:
"Hi. Is there any reference source which I can refer to for Cantonese phrases and their origins? I'm looking for the origins for the phrase, "hum ju sow" (or 'xian2 zhu1 shou3' in hanyu pinyin) which is transliterated as "salty pork/pig's hands" which refers to a lecherous man (I think). None of my Cantonese speaking friends have the answer. Thank you."
and receieved a prompt reply which gave me three titles which may contain the answer to my enquiry about the origins of "salty pig's hand":
Title: 追本穷源 : 粵语词汇趣谈
Author: 陈雄根
Publisher: 香港 : 三联书店, 2006.
Description: xiv, 220页 : 插图 ; 22公分.
Call Number: Chinese 495.17 CXG
Title: A Dictionary of Cantonese slang: the language of Hong Kong movies, street gangs and city life
Author: Christopher Hutton
Publisher: Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2005.
Description: xxiv, 492p.; 23m.
Call Number: English 495.17 HUT
Title: 广州话, 客家话, 潮汕话与普通话对照词典
Author: 欧阳觉亚 ... [et al.]
Publisher: [广州] : 广东人民出版社, 2005.
Description: 2, 18, 547页 ; 21公分.
Call Number: Chinese 495.17 GZH
Since my command of the Chinese language is rusty, I went to consult the sole English title in the list. As it turned out, it offered dozens of definitions about all phrases linked to the word, "haarm" (or "hum), which literally means "salty" but can refer to something or someone lewd or lecherous.
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