Catching up on Sunday's papers...

My late parents spoke Hokkien fluently. In fact, my mum could read Chinese text in Hokkien. After they died, my Hokkien got worse and a Chinatown-born friend, CC, recently called me a Baba (Peranakan) although I'm not.

My two grown daughters -- who are in their early 30s -- can probably respond with "Chiak pah liaw" (Yes, I've eaten) if a Hokkien-speaker were to ask them: "Chiak pah boey?" (Have you eaten?).

So I read this Sunday Times article with great interest:

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Also interesting (Sunday Times, Oct 28, "Dark Side of China") was former Chinese official Wang Xiaofang's expose of intrigue and corruption in contemporary China's political system, in his new book The Civil Servant's Notebook -- which has been translated into English and is due out next month:

I thought that his metaphoric use of one official's daily dose of urine to symbolise that country's endemic "cultural garbage" was quite poignant:

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Finally, Methodist Girls' School (MGS) has interesting alumni!...

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Zombie footnote

In my earlier blog entry on Singapore zombies, I forgot to include the ones with "invisible eyes at the back of their heads". If you are so unfortunate as to find yourself behind one of these snail-paced shuffling undead in a crowded mall or a narrow sidewalk, this is what will happen next: You try to get pass this zombie but if you move left, it does the same. So you move right, and it does the same! When you eventually get pass it and give it a stern glare, all you see is that familiar clueless look.

Extra Virgin footnote

Apparently, says this writer below, it is easy for crooked producers to adulterate Extra Virgin olive oil (Losing 'Virginity': Olive Oil's 'Scandalous' Fraud):

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/12/143154180/losing-virginity-olive-oils-scandalous-industry