Comments on: Turkey uteri

By: julie lee

julie lee — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 04:37:41 +0000

@Victor Mair， re Tony Tan's comment:

Cantonese "lap cheong" 臘腸 is pronounced "la chang" in Mandarin, which refers to turkey sausage, Chinese style, which I mentioned above.

By: Alexander

Alexander — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 01:20:52 +0000

The small intestines of a pig (exactly what you'd use for standard sausages) are regularly labeled as "pig uteri" in almost every Chinese (and Vietnamese) grocery I've been to (mid-Atlantic U.S.). I don't know why because, when the label is also in Chinese, it always has the Chinese for intestine and not uterus.

By: secondmonkey

secondmonkey — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:56:55 +0000

I refuse to pay more than $5/lb for turkey uteri.

By: Valerie Syverson

Valerie Syverson — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:36:43 +0000

The picture is of a sign over the meat counter, which contained no sausages.

By: J. Goard

J. Goard — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 04:19:12 +0000

@GAC:

Speaking of which, the Korean word for a phoenix is a truly amazing pun — Sino-Korean 불사조 (不死鳥 'not-die-bird', 'immortal bird'), but with a first syllable that is homophonous with the native Korean word for 'fire', and the whole name evoking 불사르다 'burn up, cremate'.

By: Victor Mair

Victor Mair — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 18:04:11 +0000

From Toni Tan:

Could this be turkey “lap cheong”? (turkey sausage)

By: GAC

GAC — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 02:14:17 +0000

@Peter Taylor: I wish they would translate phoenix as "fire bird", but as far as I know the usual Chinese translation is 凤凰 feng4huang2, which is a mythological Chinese bird whose only similarity to a phoenix is that it is a mythological bird — in other words, it is neither on fire nor regularly reincarnating. In fact, I don't think the fenghuang does much at all except look pretty represent marriage and femininity.

By: Acilius

Acilius — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 23:40:53 +0000

@Joe Green: You learn something every day. I'd always assumed that the Latin uterus was a fourth declension, so that the plural would be uterus. But you're right, it really is a second declension.

By: julie wei

julie wei — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 21:17:37 +0000

@David Bloom

Thanks for the chicken oviduct-ovary complex picture and your explanation of it as named JI CHANG (chicken intestines) and served in Cantonese cooking. I can well believe that "turkey intestines" may well mean the same oviduct-ovary complex. It must be thought of as full of nutritious hormones. I know my mom once served us human-placenta cooked in soup (it was spongy and rubbery) and encouraged us with the words "It's very fortifying, full of good hormones and nutrition." I bit into a piece but couldn't swallow it. (My mom requested the placenta from a hospital delivery-room nurse who was her friend. This was in Taiwan.)

By: David Bloom

David Bloom — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 16:57:24 +0000

The chicken oviduct-ovary complex (see picture) is definitely used in Cantonese cooking–my helpmeet has been known to serve it up, with the soft embryonic eggs all lined up as if on a conveyor belt, corresponding to Chad Nilep's kumquats. She says it is loosely known as 雞腸 ji chang/chicken intestines (or is the spectacular highlight of a well-prepared dish of chicken intestines) but a Hong Kong food safety ordinance calls it 雞子 jizi ("chicken child"). Doing the same with a turkey sounds even more grotesque to this barbarian ghost, but I think that is what it must be.

By: Jerry Friedman

Jerry Friedman — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 14:56:30 +0000

For a semantic parallel, in Yiddish "kishka" means both "intestine" and a not un-sausage-ish dish made of stuffed intestines. I believe that comes from Polish and maybe other Slavic languages. I would also like to point out that in Yiddish "pupik" means both navel and gizzard.

By: julie wei

julie wei — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 06:09:43 +0000

The Chinese CHANG "intestines" also means "sausages". So I believe the label means Chinese-style turkey sausages. Typically, Chinese-style sausages are made of pork. Sausages in Chinese are called LA CHANG "lunar-twelfth-month intestines" or XIANG CHANG "fragrant intestines", and they're made of pork, (Lunar twelfth month because traditionally sausages and hams were made in households in the month before lunar New Year's.) Here, the label says "turkey intestines" in Chinese, which would suggest "turkey sausages", Chinese style.

By: Rodger C

Rodger C — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:55:45 +0000

To be clearly distinguished from "pork butts."

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:26:55 +0000

Bob,

Pig uteri are a big item in the Vietnamese stores here in Tacoma too. There's no consistency in choosing the English term to translate the Vietnamese though - they also sell "pork bung", not "pork ani". I guess it doesn't matter whether the term is native or Latinate so long as it's sufficiently opaque.

By: Valerie Syverson

Valerie Syverson — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:05:39 +0000

Thanks very much!

We thought 肠 meant "intestines" only, but if it's generally more like "viscera" (and if it's the same used for pig uterus, which I can confirm is a real thing people eat) then it all makes a lot more sense. We also found references to people eating actual turkey intestines, FWIW.

What really blows my mind, though, is the link in the post to morphology of the vagina and uterus in turkeys. I never knew that people refer to the oviduct as a uterus, and neither did my friend the dinosaur specialist (the person to whom I first sent this photo).