Food Tones

[liuzhou]

Like many other languages, Mandarin Chinese is tonal. This means that each syllable is assigned one of five tones. Other syllables with otherwise the same pronunciation will often have different tones.

 

These tones are important. Get the tone wrong and you change the meaning. This can be embarrassing in that while you intend saying something inconsequential, you actually come out with something shocking or amusing.

 

One that I hope is deliberate (I know it isnt) is food related.

 

Bell peppers, the most pointless vegetable ever are, in Mandarin 甜椒 (tián jiāo). The first syllable, tián, has a rising tone while the second has a high flat tone.

 

Accidentally change both tones to falling then rising and you've changed the meaning to the verb 'to lick feet', something more flavourful!

 

 

There are many more food related examples which I will put here as I come across them.

 

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

Another example is 水饺 (shuǐ jiǎo), meaning "boiled dumplings". Both syllables use a falling and rising tone.

 

If you get it wrong and use only falling tones, 睡觉 shuì jiào, then you are saying "sleep" or "go to bed".

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 03:21 PM by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Fancy some lettuce? Be careful.

 

 

The Chinese for lettuce is 生菜 (shēng cài). High flat tone on the shēng and falling tone on the cài.

 

Accidentally, change the tones to 剩菜 (shèng cài), both falling tones instead of some nice crispy lettuce, you've aked for leftovers!

 

Or, change the tones to 生财 (shēng cái) flat, then rising, and you've said "make money". Fear not, the vendors will manage that just fine.

 

[paul o' vendange]

Funny, but more, thank you for sharing this.  I knew that Mandarin Chinese was tonal but didn't know specifically what that meant.  Here's the kicker - in basic post-retirement, I teach adult swimming and have a number of Chinese students.  They put up with my meager "Nǐ hǎo ma" and "Xièxiè", and have been kind when I've tried to wade in deeper when I've asked "how do you say?...."  Now I'm guessing I've butchered everything far worse than I'd thought.🫣

[liuzhou]

"What could be safer than a bowl of noodles?", you might think! Be careful. Noodles 🍜 are 面条 (miàn tiáo) in Mandarin. Falling tone then rising tone.

 

Slip up and use both with rising tones and you'll have ordered 棉条 (mián tiáo), a tampon!

 

 

These are rice noodles. For some reason I don't have a picture of a bowl of tampons.

 

 

[MaryIsobel]

Oh my, that could be embarassing. That being said, when I moved to Saskatchewan from BC for a job contract, I was in a grocery store looking for what I call napkins - things to wipe your hands and mouth on while eating. The teenage stockboy that I asked for assistance, looked horrified for a minute and then led me to an aisle and pointed - "half-way down." Yes, he had directed me to the feminine hygeine section. Apparently two provinces over, they call the serviettes, not napkins.🤣

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, MaryIsobel said:

Oh my, that could be embarassing. That being said, when I moved to Saskatchewan from BC for a job contract, I was in a grocery store looking for what I call napkins - things to wipe your hands and mouth on while eating. The teenage stockboy that I asked for assistance, looked horrified for a minute and then led me to an aisle and pointed - "half-way down." Yes, he had directed me to the feminine hygeine section. Apparently two provinces over, they call the serviettes, not napkins.🤣

I'd honestly thought that was a pan-Canadian thing, at least among those of, say, early Gen X and up. It was very much universal in the Maritimes when I was growing up.