Culture & Usage: "Lufsig", False Friends & Bad Words

Lufsig -- a must-buy in Hong Kong
Image from IKEA

"What should we do this Christmas?" 
"Let's throw something!"
"Throw a party?"
"No, throw Lufsig!"

If you are not aware of the recent news from Hong Kong, or you are not into Hong Kong cultures, you probably won't get the above conversation, but in fact, it is packed with dark humour and politics.

Lufsig on its way to attack CY Leung
Image from Mingpao

Lufsig, an IKEA plush toy from the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, has become a recent phenomenon in Hong Kong. Ever since the unknown toy was thrown at the much criticised 'Wolfman' Chief Executive of Hong Kong CY Leung, the toy sparked an immediate craze in the city. Overnight, 'Lufsig has been sold out at all Ikea stores.' Netizens who wish to purchase the popular toy have to place bid on Yahoo! Auction at almost quadruple of the original HK$58.

Image from Yahoo! Auction

There are several reasons to this,

1. Chief Executive CY Leung, commonly known as 'Wolfman' for his cunningness and absence of integrity, fits perfectly with Lufsig's character -- "fond of play and mischief".
2. Lufsig's China website translate the name into Cantonese "Lo Mo Sai", which resembles the profanity "mother's cxxt".
3. Adding to the profanity, "Throwing" or "Hanging" "Lo Mo Sai" resembles "fxxk mother's cxxt".
4. The plush toy comes with an old granny toy which can be "eaten" by Lufsig and "rescued" from its tummy. Either way, she's someone's mother.
5. There are just too much unhappiness and pressure among the Hong Kongers towards the government, especially without the right to choose their leader and continual suppression in freedom of speech. Lufsig offers a marvelous mean for stress relief and voice out.

"Lo Mo Sai" -- Lufsig on IKEA China on 11th Dec 2013
Image from IKEA China

The Lufsig phenomenon has led to an explosion of creativity. Not only does Lufsig have a Facebook account, there are also Lufsig throwing competition, Lufsig monster cards, Lufsig posters, selfies with Lufsig, and many more in progress. As BBC reports, "Ikea toy wolf becomes Hong Kong protest symbol".

"Lo Fuk Sai" -- Lufsig on IKEA China on 12th Dec 2013
Image from IKEA China

A spokesman from the IKEA headquarters in Sweden later said, "Our intention is that product names should not reflect politics or religion" and so they have given a new Chinese name to Lufsig -- "Lo Fuk Sai", which worsen to "Aggressively Fxxk (Someone's) Cxxt".

Nice job IKEA!!!

False friends in a Dutch advertisement actually meaning "Mama, that one, that one, that one ..." "Please.", In English this could easily sound as though the child is telling her mother to die, although the word is not pronounced the same way in the two languages.
Caption from Wikipedia, image from thingamababy

False friends as funny as Lo Mo Sai isn't solely a Cantonese thing. In the above Dutch advertisement, "Mama, die, die, die...""Alsjeblieft", actually means "Mama, that one, that one, that one...""Please" in English, but which English speaker will realise the Dutch meaning when the kid in the ad looks like she wanted to kill someone?

Asking around the Hong-Kongers and you'll find out that one of the most classic false friend examples happens in Thai-Cantonese homonyms. A video on the internet shows martial art master Tony Jaa teaching Thai to two Hong Kong artists, pronouncing

• Colour (English) = See (Thai) = Shit (Cantonese)
• White (English) = See-Kou (Thai) = Lion's Ball (Cantonese)
• Pinkish Blue (English) = See-Fa (Thai) = Ass (Cantonese) / 
• Green (English) = See-Keau (Thai) = Shitty Idea (Cantonese) 
• Brown (English) = See-Nam-Dang (Thai) = Whatso-fxxking-ever (Cantonese)
• Black (English) = See-Dom (Thai) = ????
• Rainbow Colours (English) = Lei-Lai-See (Thai) = You shit (your pants) involuntarily / You have fecal incontinence!!

False friends exists in all languages, wanna learn some false friends in German? Try BBC German!

You might have realised that the more foul false friends are, the more intriguing it gets. That's because humans naturally need foul language. Michael of Vsauce has a rather detailed video about bad words.

So bad words / foul languages are not as simply as they seem.

Their history and evolution has much to do with the class differences. The higher class used elegant words, the lower class used less classy words which some eventually turned into bad words we use today.

And why do we like bad words? Because we can use them as a mean of lalochezia. Lufsg as anti-government symbol? Now you know why.

Enjoy researching!



Vocabulary:
dark humour -- (n)[U] Humor that is viewed as dark, morbid, cruel, offensive to some, and or graphic in nature and is yet, still found funny.
fecal incontinence -- (n)[U] Fecal incontinence (FI), also called faecal incontinence, bowel incontinence or anal incontinence, is a lack of control over defecation, leading to involuntary loss of bowel contents—including flatus, liquid stool elements and mucus, or solid feces.
lalochezia -- (n) [U] (rare) The use of vulgar or foul language to relieve stress or pain.


Resources:

Lufsig @ Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Lufsig?ref=nf

Lufsig @ IKEA China
http://www.ikea.com/cn/zh/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/children/

Ikeagosedjur i Hongkong-protester @ GP
http://www.gp.se/ekonomi/1.2205428-ikeagosedjur-i-hongkong-protester

IKEA Toy Wolf Becomes Unlikely Anti-Government Symbol In Hong Kong | Yuen Chan @ Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yuen-chan/lufsig-hong-kong_b_4414080.html

Toy wolf with a rude name becomes a must-have for Hong Kong protesters @ South China Morning Post
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1377007/toy-wolf-rude-name-becomes-must-have-hong-kong-protesters

Cuddly wolf sinks teeth into Leung @ The Standard
http://thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=140470&sid=41100584&con_type=1

Vocabulary: Jargons With A Hong Kong Flavour @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/07/vocabulary-jargons-with-hong-kong.html

Ikea toy wolf becomes Hong Kong protest symbol @ BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-25314580

Ikea toy wolf Lufsig gets new name after its claim to fame @ SCMP
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1378290/ikea-toy-wolf-lufsig-gets-new-name-after-its-claim-fame

False Friends @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friends

What's so funny about German? -- False Friends @ BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/comedy/false_friends.shtml

Tony Jaa 教泰文(森美、吳君如主持)，笑到你lai屎。 @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/3RQ07P4qbGA

Kari Byron No Pain No Gain H O T @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/etl3frIvLEY

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dark%20humor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_incontinence
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lalochezia

Slang: 'Selfie' or 'Unselfie'? 'Fularious', 'Interesting' or 'Meh'?

It's true! That's Pope Francis' selfie.
Image from Telegraph

I have always said, we don't need Oxford or Cambridge when it comes to slang. However, they always get to the news when they do add an internet word into their dictionary, even if it is just the online version they are adding... like the netizens don't already know them.

Last month, Oxford Dictionary made "selfie" the word of the year, beating 'twerk' and other increasing popular words such as 'showrooming', 'binge watch', 'bitcoin' and 'schmeat'.

For those of you who are still unfamiliar with the above words,

selfie -- (n)[C] once known as a self-portrait taken with a smartphone
twerk -- (vb)[I or T] once known as to perform a butt dance or booty dance, a word supposedly first seen in 1889 and peaked in 1975.

showrooming -- (n)[U] The act of going to retail stores like Best Buy and Walmart to check out certain products and then once satisfied with the look and feel, purchasing the item online on Amazon or other retailers.
binge watch -- (vb)[T] once known as TV series watching marathon, modified from binge eat.
bitcoin -- (n)[C or U] an open source peer-to-peer payment network and digital currency introduced in 2009 by pseudonymous developer "Satoshi Nakamoto".
schmeat -- (n)[U] the synthetic meat grown from a soup of antibiotics and foetal bovine serum.

A slab of schmeat
Image from The Guardian

For those of you who have already heard of these terms, how about learning some I have come across when reading online articles?

Image from mashable

You know I like Tesla Model S very much, and as I was reading an excellent article about the company, I found a cute little one,

"Tesla isn't just a car, or even a brand in the sense that nearly every other for-profit company is a brand ... It's actually the ultimate mission -- the mother of all missions -- and that is, to wean our planet off its addiction to fossil fuels, helping to create a long-term sustainable society; one that our grandchildren can enjoy and be proud of.

No automaker that chooses to concurrently produce internal combustion engine vehicles, can ever be authenticated as having a 'mission' that is as purposeful and meaningful as Tesla's is. This mission -- in combination with a brilliant product -- is the reason everyone wants to own a Teslaand the reason everyone wants to work for Tesla. It is creating an unfathomably powerful brand that makes us say "meh" to BMWs, Aston Martins and even Ferraris. We subliminally ask owners of these vehicles: "what good are you doing for the world?", and then smugly laugh to ourselves, because a 10 year old company is making cleaner, more high-tech, and better performing cars than companies that have had generations to perfect their products."

So what is meh?

meh -- (exclamation) indifference; to be used when one simply does not care.

I guess I will use this really often from now on. It's short and sweet! It's 'fularious' or not?

fularious -- (adj) 

Image from Urbandictionary

Do you know what is "unselfie"?
Image from PetaPixel

Can't let selfie steal the show, right?

unselfie -- (n)[C] a self-portrait which doesn't show your entire face.

Do you think this is 'interesting'?

interesting -- (adj)

Image from Urbandictionary

Slang from Internet is and will continue to play a key role in the expansion of all languages, particularly English and Chinese, due to massive number of users globally. Keep reading and you will learn what tuhao means!

Wanna create your own slang? Yes, you can! I did! Maybe very soon you will see 'typhooliday' on Urbandictonary just like millions of others!

Want to understand how the modern English language has evolved? You are recommended to take a look at this article too! Urban Dictionary, Wordnik track evolution of language as words change, emerge @ Poynter.

Resources:
Selfie the 'Word of the Year' and on course for the Oxford English Dictionary @ Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/10457525/Selfie-the-Word-of-the-Year-and-on-course-for-the-Oxford-English-Dictionary.html

Cameron Diaz shaking her ass booty dance @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9UqVxZ6b0M

Instagrammers Boosting Aid for Typhoon Victims With 'Unselfies' @ PetaPixel
http://petapixel.com/2013/11/18/instagrammers-boost-aid-typhoon-victims-unselfies/

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=selfie
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=twerk
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=twerk&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ctwerk%3B%2Cc0
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=showrooming

Medical Vocabulary: Medical Words from House M.D.@ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2012/07/medical-vocabulary-medical-words-from.html

Bitcoin @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

Schmeat: a tasty-sounding word, but what does it mean? | Books @ The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/books/shortcuts/2013/nov/19/schmeat-oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year-synthetic-meat-sheet

Tesla Brand Is Crown Jewel To Big Automakers @ Seeking Alpha
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1885311-tesla-brand-is-crown-jewel-to-big-automakers?source=yahoo

Meh @ Urbandictionary
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=meh

We Said "meh" @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCcZqcPOlNM

Urban Dictionary: Six Million Words You Won’t Find in Webster’s @ Information Today
http://www.infotoday.com/LinkUp/Urban-Dictionary-Six-Million-Words-You-Wont-Find-in-Websters-76779.shtml

Man Buys $103K Tesla Model S With Bitcoin @ Mashable
http://mashable.com/2013/12/09/tesla-bitcoin/

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fularious
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=interesting

Urban Dictionary: 12 Surprisingly Useful, Unknown Words @ HEAVY
http://www.heavy.com/entertainment/2013/02/12-surprisingly-useful-unknown-words-from-urban-dictionary/

Urban Dictionary, Wordnik track evolution of language as words change, emerge @ Poynter.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/158438/urban-dictionary-wordnik-redefine-meaning-of-meaning/

Culture: "Typhoo-lidays", Britons and Weather @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2011/06/culture-typhoo-lidays-britons-and.html
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=typhooliday

Food: The Search For Great Curry -- Part 5 @ Wine and Deli by m.a.x. concepts

Image from Locky's English Playground

Wine and Deli by m.a.x. concepts at Cityplaza has been around for quite some time, but it was really my first visit last week. Located right besides the ice-skating rink, the cafe had an entrance that resembles a Paris cafe on the road side. 

Green-looking cafe
Image from Locky's English Playground

Or, to be more precise, the entrance is like the junction of a pedestrian walk which leads you to even more eateries, when in fact, it is one restaurant as a whole.

Lighting is fantastic!
Image from Locky's English Playground

A restaurant that is semi-food court-like, where diners queue up to buy their food and then collect a number stand to wait for your food to be delivered to your table.

Frozen Yoghurt counter
Image from Locky's English Playground

As a restaurant, no surprise to see that they sell froyo there,

Hong Kong-style tea sets
Image from Locky's English Playground

What is surprising is that the restaurant actually offers food of a Cha Chaan Teng -- a Hong Kong local cafe.

Curry Beef Rice
Image from Locky's English Playground

A glance through the menu on the wall unveiled several curry dishes. As always, a chance as such cannot be forgone, so I ordered the classic curry beef rice, which cost HK$56.

Image from Locky's English Playground

The look was actually quite average, but the lightning made it looked way better than it deserved, so I give 4 star for the clever use of lighting.

The taste was really quite good. The temperature was at its optimal making the curry taste sweet and rich enough while keeping the spicy tone at a touch-and-go level. The beef portion was "really generous" at first glance but consisting the price paid I had to downgrade it to "reasonable". Marinating was slightly over for my taste causing a minute loss of beefiness, still, it is way better than all so many Cha Chaan Teng around.

Smell-wise, it was barely noticeable at nose tip, with the addition of fried onion bits, it smelled like a Singaporean curry with much less coconut milk. It's not bad, but not as good as I would have expected.

Overall, it is still a decent curry rice with a stomach-fulfilling amount of beef (and potatoes). If you are looking for a high-class Cha Chaan Teng with nice curry, this may be the one for you!


Scores:

Look:            ★★★★☆ 4/5

Taste:            ★★★★☆ 4/5

Smell:            ★★☆☆☆ 3/5

Textures:       ★★★★☆ 4/5

Temperature: ★★★★★ 5/5

Overall:         ★★★★☆ 20/25

Resources:
m.a.x. concepts
http://www.maxconcepts.com.hk/tc/deli_n_wine.asp

Food: The Search For Great Curry -- Part 4 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2013/07/food-search-for-great-curry-part-4.html

Food: The Search For Great Curry -- Part 3 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/04/food-search-for-great-curry-part-3.html

Food: The Search For Great Curry -- Part 2 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/04/food-search-for-great-curry-part-2.html

Food: The Search For Great Curry -- Part 1 @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/03/food-search-for-great-curry-part-1.html

Auto & Science: How To Cut Fuel Consumption When Driving?

Volkswagen XL1 has a drag coefficient of 0.189, the lowest in all production cars to date
Image from NewCarShow.com

Before we go into how to cut fuel consumption, I would like to find out,

1. exactly how far can a supercar go with just one gallon of fuel, and 
2. just how much does driving style affect fuel consumption? 

Jeremy Clarkson of Topgear has the demonstration for us.

After watching the whole video, you'll know that driving style does play a key role in fuel consumption. Even a BMW M3 can be more efficient than a Toyota Prius!

But exactly what makes a good driving style? What's more, do other factors also play a part in fuel consumption? We have the answer below!

Here's the summary

1. Shape --> Aerodynamics --> Air resistance --> Drag --> Drag coefficient
2. Weight --> Light material 
3. Less cargo and fewer baggage
4. Tire pressure
5. Slower Drive

The more streamlined the car is, the better the aerodynamics is, which leads to lower air resistance and thus lower drag and drag coefficient. The lighter the car is, the more fuel efficient. Properly inflated tires minimise contact with the ground and thus friction with the road. Finally, the optimal fuel efficient driving speed is 55 mph (88kph).

Drag Coefficient of production cars ranked by Cd
Image from Wikipedia

Talking about aerodynamics and drag coefficient, my dream car the Tesla Model S has a .24 drag coefficient  (see Technology & Opinions: My Tesla Model S Hands-on Review ) -- the lowest of all production cars in 2012 until Mercedes-Benz CLA and Volkswagen came along in 2013.

Tesla Model S has a drag coefficient of 0.24
Image from Autoblog

Just how do auto companies test their drag coefficient? They make use of something called a wind tunnel. Volvo has a nice detail video which shows us how this is done.

Hope you have learnt how to save money on the road and understood after the science behind it. Let's start driving wisely for the weekends!



Resources:

2012 Tesla Model S [w/video] First Drive - Autoblog @ Tesla
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/09/11/2012-tesla-model-s-first-drive-review-video/

Automobile Drag Coefficient @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_drag_coefficient#Typical_drag_coefficients

Top Gear : Supercars: The One Gallon Fuel Crisis Race - Top Gear - BBC @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/JmxUsGiGp3w

4 Ways To Cut Gas Costs @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLv_KyZM-ag

Technology & Opinions: My Tesla Model S Hands-on Review  @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/10/technology-opinions-my-tesla-model-s.html-

World: Fun Facts We All Should Know -- Part 2 (Viewer Discretion Is Advised) @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/08/world-fun-facts-we-all-should-know-part_29.html

New Volvo Wind Tunnel @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/TtLh2P56LvY

Auto: Mercedez Benz C180 Kompressor Review

My sister's C180K in Stanley
Image from Locky's English Playground

Mercedes Benz C180K isn't a new car at all, this particular one that my sister owns was produced in 2006 and it's a 4th-hander, but that doesn't mean this car is a terrible. In fact, it is easier to drive than most of the latest vehicles around.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Though this 1,794cc 16V I4 supercharged petrol engine may not be youthful enough to deliver the 143 PS (105 kW; 141 hp)@5200 rpm, 220 N·m (162 lb·ft)@2500–4200 rpm any more, this vehicle is still a very good fuel saver with superb reliability after spending an extra HK$30k on sensors and wheel s upgrade, making it a fantastic on-the-go car for daily use and a family car for the weekend. 

I say that it is fuel saving because the car is not too heavy to draw too much petrol to move and thus I can make use of the momentum most of the time instead of stepping on the brake to burn fuel. That said, "momentum driving" is just my style, which is why Tesla Model S' regenerative braking suits me.

Image from Locky's English Playground

The exterior has been maintained amazingly well for a 7-year-old, hardly a scratch due to weathering.

Image from Locky's English Playground

The rear trunk is not especially large, but it has the capacity for 1 to 2 large luggage cases for business trips. 

Image from Locky's English Playground

The interior is the classic layout you would expect from a classic model, nothing too fancy about it might be a weakness, but for some who prefer simplicity with practicality like me, a clean and tidy panel is much preferred than buttons galore. 

Image from Locky's English Playground

Sadly, a car as lasting as this does not match the taste of modern girls and so it is now put up for sale. To an extend that my sister has already purchased a BMW 520i before she can find a buyer for the predecessor. There has been a couple of people asking for driving tests, and I am sure the next buyer will be a happy one.

Since I can drive her BMW 520i, I will also be writing a review on that. Let's hope that it is what you would anticipate.

Resources:
Mercedes-Benz_C-Class#C-series_engines @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes-Benz_C-Class#C-series_engines

Message: Goodbye To "Loanwords" & "Spices"! Hello to "Auto"!

Tesla Model S
Image from Locky's English Playground

Hello my friends!

This is just a quick update on the modification of Locky's English Playground tags and the menu list of the Android app.

Since the post on "Loanwords" and "Spices" have not been a lot, I have decided to remove them and add a new list named "Auto", which will of course be talking about automobiles, including my test drives and car reviews.

Previously I have already reviewed my dream car, the Tesla Model S, but that will not stop me from testing others.

For those of you who love to learn more about cars from my perspective, do come to visit the English Playground often!


The Android app update will arrive at your Android phones in about 2 hours' time.


Locky
CEO of Locky's English Playground