Skip to main content

What A Load Of Corn

Whilst we, Malaysians, make no mistakes about the usage of the word or term or noun 'corn', the word 'corn' actually goes back a long way. In fact, originally, corn was meant for anything that was as small as a grain of sand. Any small particle. You can even use the word 'corn' for salt. Does it make sense now why we call our corned beef 'corned beef'? :-) In the history books, when you refer to a country's corn, it means the crop that the country produces the most. As in Malaysia's corn is rice...or used to be rice. So, back in Hang Tuah days, you ask them, "Woy, bagi saya satu paket corn" and they give you a packet of rice. Right or wrong, I don't know, seriously, but you get my point. Therefore, when you're in England, you say corn and they think wheat. In Scotland, you have to be a little bit more careful because when you ask for corn, they will hand you a packet of quick cooking oats. In the meantime, our brothers over in the US of States understanding is more aligned with the current Malaysian understanding of what corn is. When you ask for corn, they give you maize...which is, in effect, what we're asking for....jagung.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Liberating Activity - Guess What Mine Is....

When asked what’s my one single favorite thing to do in the world, I would usually name a whole list of things that I love to do when my work is not screaming at me. Something that takes my mind COMPLETELY off of everyday tasks and relaxes me. Take a guess what it is…. If you say ‘ reading ’, yes, I love reading (especially soppy love stories with lots of sex scenes, please. Hee hee hee ….) and I also love mystery novels but it’s not the first on the list. If you say ‘ playing the piano ’; yes, I love playing the piano. Creating forms a huge part of my life and whenever I play the piano (as inept at it as I am), there’s this tiny little girl inside of me jumping up and down with glee, clapping her hands. It’s my childhood dream to be able to play the piano! And thumping on the keys gives me a sense of satisfaction when I hear the music. If you say ‘ writing ’; You’ve got to be kidding me! You mean I don’t write enough as it is? Case closed. If you say ‘ playing with my kids ’; Yea...

Malaysian Election 2008 - Malaysians ready for change

The political wrestle is over, here in Malaysia, and thankfully too because it earned me a hangove from watching the news, and reading all the readily available blogs on cyberspace all night long. With a spilting headache from squinting into the PC screen, watching the TV for news on the results from the ballot boxes, anxiety, uncertainty and HOPE lingers in the air..... BN, our ruling party in Malaysia, who has been flexing its political muscles for a long time now with the confident (and ever sleepy and gay) PM convincing Malaysians that BN is the only way to peace. Opposition cannot hold the fort properly, though, because the formation and coalition between them is too loose. But with BN denied the 2/3 majority it needed, all I can say is that Pak Lah tore a tendon while flexing his political muscles. Fed up, fed up, fed up - Malaysians are fed up A lot of Malaysians chose not to vote for the oppositition IN THE PAST because we wanted unity, we resisted change because of a date w...

Demanding a Balanced Lifestyle

We live in a world choked with demands….demand for more money, better lifestyle, more holidays, smarter kids, bigger house, posher cars….etc. People walk around with spiritually unimportant goals in their minds driven by the need to succeed and be better than others around them. Hong Kong. South Korea. Japan. Most Asian countries suffer from this ill-fate which have caused a horrific rise in the number of suicide rates in the said countries. Malaysia is no exception as well although we’re very slowly gaining ground on our neighbors. Just picking up my son from school can become a stressful affair. I’ve mentioned this to a few friends of mine over the phone and all of them cluck their tongue shake their head. It’s end of the year and the kids are getting their test results back by now. I overheard a couple of tai-tais (housewives) gripe about their kids’ results. Mom: I don’t know-lah. My kid did not do very well this term. The best also got 95 only. (NINETY FIVE ONLY???) ...