How should we judge a government?

In Malaysia, if you don't watch television or read newspapers, you are uninformed; but if you do, you are misinformed!

"If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience - Mark Twain

Why we should be against censorship in a court of law: Publicity is the very soul of justice … it keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial. - Jeremy Bentham

"Our government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no
responsibility at the other. " - Ronald Reagan

Government fed by the people

Government fed by the people

Career options

Career options
I suggest government... because nobody has ever been caught.

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?

Corruption so prevalent it affects English language?
Corruption is so prevalent it affects English language?

When there's too much dirt...

When there's too much dirt...
We need better tools... to cover up mega corruptions.

Prevent bullying now!

Prevent bullying now!
If you're not going to speak up, how is the world supposed to know you exist? “Orang boleh pandai setinggi langit, tapi selama ia tidak menulis, ia akan hilang di dalam masyarakat dan dari sejarah.” - Ananta Prameodya Toer (Your intellect may soar to the sky but if you do not write, you will be lost from society and to history.)

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Fun with names

WEE KEN FATT, screams a sign on one side of the road. SOH KEN WEE seems like a reply across the road. This much quoted joke, gets distorted along the way, but it does not lose its hilarity. Now I wonder if it was actually true or cooked up.

But I know this is true. Years ago, along 3rd mile Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, there used to be a vacant land, which is now a building occupied by Public Bank. It was occupied by a used car company by the name of FU SOON SDN BHD.

Recently, we were in Teluk Intan looking for a particular biscuit shop. While driving about in the town, I saw a shop with SEONG FART. I am sure in Cantonese, it was supposed to mean “always prosper” but somehow it got mispelt or the owner has no choice because there must have been too many SEONG FATT already registered.

If my memory serves me right, a SOON GOH FATT along Jalan Tun Perak, Kuala Lumpur, managed to get a mention in That’s Life in UK, hosted by Esther Rantzen.

Auspicious business signs for restaurants signifying good business, seem to suggest the lack of ideas. TIEN TIEN LAI and YAT YAT TOU means the same (everyday come), though the former is in Mandarin and the latter in Cantonese.

The Chinese favourite, usually one of two or three characters of a business name, FOOK means “good luck” in Cantonese. But if it is used in Yorkshire, England, it sounds obscene!

I realized this, years ago, when my roommate tried to explain the many different dialects of Chinese people to a Yemeni post-graduate student. He was in Leeds long enough. He told him, “For example, I am Hakka, and he, pointing at me, is Fookin." Jamal burst out laughing! If my friend had used "Hokien instead of Fookin", it would not have been so hilarious.

There is a coffeeshop in the town where I live now, with the name, MOK YEW. If FOOK YEW, I bet a tourist from Yorkshire will take a picture to show his friends back home.

By the way, my blog name KOSONG means “empty” in Malay. I am trying to dispel the Chinese superstitution relating to names, by making sure my blog is far from empty. In fact, I hope to open a jam café by that name too!

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