Turning Vietnamese

[muckefuck]

Ooh, I hope rollick doesn't stand me up tonight! I even brought along my (crappy*) Vietnamese dictionary in order to unlock the mysteries of the menus. For instance, if--as I strongly suspect--the name of the "forest meat" place is correctly spelled Như ݆, then it means, literally, "like idea". A more colloquial translation would be "as one wishes". This could refer to the fact that diners apparently have the option of grilling the meat at table or it could just be an ornate name. The Chinese equivalent, ru2yi4 is commonplace on scrolls and New Year's decorations.

*It's Hippocrene!
†How I wish the whole world were Unicode-compliant! I know Vietnamese diacriticals seem nightmarish, but each serves a purpose. The difference between u and ư is whether the lips are rounded or not. The first sound is like English "oo"; the second has no exact equivalent--except in certain dialects--but it also exists in Korean. (welcomerain: It's the vowel that looks like a plain horizontal line.) Similarly, the spelling phở tells you that the vowel is also unrounded (it also has a near-equivalent in Korean), therefore more like English "uh" than "owe", and that the word ends with a glottal stop.‡

‡Whoo-hoo! A footnote longer than the entry itself! See, Ma, that's where all that tuition money went!

Comments

[prilicla.livejournal.com]

What "forest meat" are you planning to order? I think I'd try the wild boar, myself.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

The cutest, cuddliest, most big-eyed and sweet-natured dead animal I can find!

[welcomerain.livejournal.com]

Can I invite myself?

Cow or monkey?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

As I recall, rollick put out a general call for adventurous souls. At this rate, she may be the only one not there tonight!

What time's good for you, 'Rin?

Re: Cow or monkey?

[welcomerain.livejournal.com]

ANY TIME I AM STARVING JUST TELL ME WHERE TO MEET YOUUUUUUU

Re: Cow or monkey?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I'm starving, too. Shall we say (Quan Thit Rung) Như Ý at 7 p.m.? Open invitation. Be there or be đáng thương!

Re: Cow or monkey?

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Is it standing you up if we never set a time and I didn't know anyone was actually in?

Bah. I am unwashed, tired, and antisocial. But let it never be said that I'm an up-standing citizen who stands people up. I'm just glad you decided on 7 and I'm not standing you up right now.

Re: Cow or monkey?

[welcomerain.livejournal.com]

I will attempt to find this place, by wandering up and down argyle :)

Re: Cow or monkey?

[prilicla.livejournal.com]

rollick said it was on Argyle between Broadway and Sheridan, if that helps. Sadly, I can't make it tonight, since I'm having dinner with my parents at Joe's Stone Crab. (Mmmm...crab....)

Nicht Kuh, nicht Affe--Krabbe!

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

This doesn't sound very sad at all!

(Mmm...Maryland blue crab.)

[prilicla.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wasn't sad about going to dinner at Joe's, which was great, though pricey. I was sad because I was going to have to miss out on the interesting-sounding Vietnamese place (at least for now), not to mention the pleasure of seeing you, welcomerain, and anyone else who showed up. So how was it?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Smoky as a brothel, so maybe it's just as well you weren't there. Full report to follow...

Re: Cow or monkey?

[grahamwest.livejournal.com]

I could endeavour to be there if I had a street address or a name that was actually searchable upon at smartpages.com...

Re: Cow or monkey?

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

What if you had a HUGE neon sign that can be seen from the Argyle el stop?

[prilicla.livejournal.com]

As lhn always quotes at me when I start whining about eating animals I could never bring myself to kill: "Don't kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!"

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Hah. You lied. Unless you consider snakes cuter and cuddlier than rabbits or roos.

Obligatory Comment

[bunj.livejournal.com]

Hippocrene? Hippocrene sucks!