The difference between fire-chickens and fire-legs
Posted by Jonah Lopin on Thu, Nov 27, 2008 @ 01:08 PM
Today is Thanksgiving so I am thinking about eating turkey. In the shower, as is often the case, I was running through how to say different meats in Chinese, and I reminded myself of the word for turkey.
Start with 火 [huo3 = fire] and add 鸡 [ji1 = chicken] and you end up with 火鸡, which of course means turkey. Why would fire+chicken = turkey? Of course, since this is Chinese, there is no good reason.
(As an aside, keep in mind that 机 [ji1 = machine] and 鸡 [ji1 = chicken] are synonyms. If you start with the common word 打 [da3],which in various contexts means things like "beat; strike; break; mix up; build; fight; fetch; make; tie up; issue; shoot; calculate", and add 火机, then you end up with 打火机, literally strike-fire-machine, which means "lighter", as in a cigarette lighter. Now, the word da3 sounds a lot like da4 [大 = big], so if you ever ask someone for a light on the streets in Beijing, be careful because if your 3rd tone sounds at all like a fourth tone you end up asking for a big turkey.)
Now back to firechicken. it gets weirder. Instead of chicken, add the word 腿 [tui3 = legs]. Now you get huo3tui3, 火腿, firelegs, which of course, means ham.
This also makes no sense. Why would firelegs = ham? Or maybe they are thinking of buffalo wings... hot wings... buffalo... buffalo is like turkey...turkey and ham... hot... fire...wings...legs...firelegs! Or maybe not.
Enjoy your firechickens and firelegs today.
Does anyone have any other lunch meats they like to talk about in Mandarin?