Ang Mo Kio means 'tomatoes' in Hokkien? Plus a Hokkien joke...

PM Lee, officiating at a heritage event today in his Ang Mo Kio (AMK) constituency, mused about how the AMK name came about. Here's what he said:

"Until the early part of the 20th Century, it used to be called 'Ang Mo Kiah'... not quite sure what it means but Ang Mo Kio in Hokkien means tomatoes, so Seng Han Thong (an MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC) has made tomatoes the logo for his corner of Ang Mio Kio, but in fact there were no tomatoes in Ang Mo Kio."

Indeed! Why would our early pioneers name a place after tomatoes?? So, is the name -- in Hokkien -- a reference to "Caucasian's bridge" since "ang mo" is a colloquial shorthand for Caucasians (red-hirsute people) and "kio" is a bridge"?

Makes sense? How about the "ang mo" part being a reference to the abundant local rambutan fruit (red-haired fruit). So, combining the two parts, Ang Mo Kio would be "the location near the bridge where you can find lots of rambutan fruit'?

Wikipedia has a more detailed explanation, but the website adds the disclaimer that the information provided has no references to authenticate it. Still, it includes an interesting legend of how an Ang Mo woman (Lady Jennifer Windsor) in colonial times, pined for her missing little girl who was playing near the said bridge. The woman kept vigil there every day until her own death. Locals said the little girl's eerie voice could be heard during that vigil and it only ended when the woman died.

Here's the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ang_Mo_Kio

But how did the other term, "Ang Mo Kiah" come about? Again, in Hokkien, it seems to mean "Young Caucasian". One online forum thread has this speculation: that the civil engineer John Turnbull Thomson (major roads here have been named after him) designed and built the said bridge when he a young man fresh from Britain. He must have fussed over the bridge, which led to locals coming up with the Ang Mo Kio name!

Wah, so much ado about a place with a mystic name. Just like Mona Lisa.

How about a what I call "Follow Instructions" Hokkien joke to wrap up?

Ah Heng was pot-bellied and way too overweight, so his doctor puts him on a diet.

"On the first two days, eat regularly, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for two weeks. You should be able to lose at least two kilos."

Two weeks later, Ah Heng returns, and the doctor is shocked to find his patient now a much skinnier man, having lost 27 kilos!

"That's amazing!' the doctor said, "You did all that by following my instructions?"

Ah Heng replies: "Wah ka lu kong, chng jiak lat. Teh sar jit, wah oo ai see liaw. Nng lay pai arh ni kwan, wah chuan kar bway tah han."

[Translation: I tell you, very tough, man. On the third day, I nearly died. I kept at it for these two weeks, but I was really tired, like crazy, man.]

The doctor was mystified by now. "Tired from the hunger?"

Now visibly irritated, Ah Heng burst out: "(Insert Hokkien expletive here)... from the f---king skipping, lah!"