Italy is a dollop
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When I wrote the following post, I had an intuition that Yīdàlì 一大粒 ("one big grain / granule / particle / tablet / pellet / kernel / bead / seed"), aside from being a pun for "Italy", meant "one big scoop", and I said as much in the last sentence of the post.
"Italy is one big grain" (9/6/16)
Now, looking into the matter further, I have found that I was right on the mark.
All along I suspected that it had something to do with a difference between Taiwanese and Mandarin in the meaning of lì 粒. I also thought that the sound of the word in Taiwanese, viz., liap8 / liàp might be operative.
Let me spell this all out.
First of all, 粒 does not signify exactly the same thing in Taiwanese (liàp) as it does in Mandarin (lì). In Mandarin, lì 粒 is something tiny, small like a grain (its basic meaning), a particle, a kernel, etc., but in Taiwanese, liàp 粒 can also be used as a measure word for larger round objects, such as an egg, a watermelon, an apple, the moon, a boil or abscess, a tumor, and so forth.
This was quite puzzling to me, especially because many native speakers of Taiwanese and of Taiwan Mandarin told me that lì 粒 and liàp 粒 mean the same thing. It was only when I read this explanation by Melvin Lee that things began to make sense:
粒 is pronounced liàp in Taiwanese. As far as I know, it carries the same meaning as in Mandarin, which is a measure word (liàngcí 量词) for small items ("grain; tablet; seed"). However, in Mandarin, there is another similar measure word kē 颗 ("grain; kernel"), which some argue is used for slightly larger items (e.g., yī lì mǐ一粒米 ["a grain of rice"] vs. yī kē qiú 一颗球 ["a ball"]), while others disagree and think there aren't clear differences between these two measure words, but different habitual usages. For example, rice and red beans are almost the same in size, but a Mandarin speaker tends to say yī lì mǐ 一粒米 ("a grain of rice") vs. yī kē hóngdòu 一颗红豆 ("a red bean") for no specific reasons. However, in Taiwanese, there isn't a corresponding word for kē 颗, so a Taiwanese speaker would say chìt liàp bí 一粒米 ("a grain of rice"), chìt liàp âng-tāu 一粒红豆 ("a red bean"), chìt liàp kiû 一粒球 ("a ball"). I think that's why in the original post, in Taiwan people may say yī lì bīngqílín / chìt liàp peng-kî-lîm 一粒冰淇淋 ("a scoop of ice cream"). It's definitely influenced by Taiwanese, as a Mandarin speaker wouldn't say so. In fact, in Taiwan, a Mandarin speaker would say sān qiú bīngqílín 三球冰淇淋 ("three scoops of ice cream"). In Taiwan, qiú 球 (lit., "ball") has become a special measure word which means "scoop" that Mandarin speakers often use.
[VHM: Wherever "chìt" occurs in this post, the "ì" should be construed as having a short vertical mark above it, not the accent grave; wherever "liàp" occurs in this post, the "à" should be construed as having a short vertical mark above it, not the accent grave. I was unable to type that mark correctly in WordPress.]
Some relevant vocabulary with Taiwanese pronunciation:
chìt tōa liàp 一大粒 ("one big scoop"; for reference, "Italy" in Taiwanese is Ì-tāi-lī, i.e., too dissimilar for a pun to work directly in Taiwanese, though it obviously can be forced, as it was on the sign pictured at the beginning of the o.p.)
chìt liàp bí 一粒米 ("a grain of rice")
chìt liàp âng-tāu 一粒红豆 ("a red bean")
chìt liàp kiû 一粒球 ("a ball")
chìt liàp peng-kî-lîm 一粒冰淇淋 ("a scoop of ice cream")
"Political vocabulary and Brother Cream" (7/26/16)
My late colleague, Bill LaFleur, was fond of the word "dollop". I probably only heard it a few times in my life before he came to Penn, and I doubt that I ever used it myself before then. After having several meals with him, it also became a favorite part of my own vocabulary. Consequently, when I saw chìt tōa liàp 一大粒 ("one big scoop") on the sign pictured at the beginning of the "Italy is one big grain" post, I immediately thought of "one dollop". I'm not sure if the owners of the shop were aware of the closeness in sound and meaning of chìt tōa liàp 一大粒 ("one big scoop") and "one dollop", but I'm tempted to think that they were.
For those who are curious about the origin of the word "dollop", it appears in English around the 1570s, from East Anglian dialectal dallop ("patch, tuft, or clump of grass"), which is of uncertain origin. The modern sense of "a lump or glob" dates from 1812. It may be cognate with Norwegian dolp ("lump"). See the entry in Online Etymology Dictionary.
[Thanks to Michael Cannings, Mark Swofford, Chia-hui Lu, Chau Wu, and Grace Wu]
ahkow said,
September 8, 2016 @ 9:02 pm
I must confess that I was a little surprised that it was surprising that the classifier "lì 粒" has a different meaning in Taiwan Mandarin than e.g. in Standard Mainland/Beijing Mandarin, or that the shop is using its name to refer to the size of their scoops (why would any savvy gelato shop imply that their scoops are smaller than usual => less value for money?). The assumption underlying this post seems to be that there is one monolithic Mandarin ("In Mandarin, lì 粒 is something tiny, small like a grain (its basic meaning), a particle, a kernel, etc."). But it should be clear this assumption cannot be taken for granted, given Mandarin's geographical spread/contact with other languages and varieties of Chinese.
For what it's worth, a Singaporean actress, Michelle Tay 郑荔分, also goes by the nickname "Yīdàlì 一大粒" — in reference to her body type.
Victor Mair said,
September 8, 2016 @ 9:12 pm
@ahkow
"surprising"
Aside from you, who said that?
Simon P said,
September 9, 2016 @ 2:33 am
In Cantonese, I associate 粒 (lap1) to small, grain-like things. The 一大粒 makes me think of Cantonese phrases like 大粒佬 daai6 lap1 lou2, or 大粒嘢 daai6 lap1 je5, both meaning "a rich and powerful person, a bigshot, a VIP". I wonder if there's a similar expression in Taiwanese that could provide another layer behind the clever shop name?
Michael Cannings said,
September 9, 2016 @ 10:12 am
@ahkow the meaning is different in Taiwanese (Hokkien, Minnan), not in Taiwan Mandarin. Two different languages!
ahngeow said,
September 9, 2016 @ 10:54 am
There's this joke they used to tell back in the 90's. Half an Amy Yip (busty actress) = one big dollop. @ Simon P dua liap huk to mean a big shot (lit: large seed) (Has NSFW connotations. Unless your boss enjoys being referred to as a large genital.)
ahkow said,
September 9, 2016 @ 11:24 am
@Dr. Mair: Perhaps not "surprising", then, but I'm just puzzled why it was interesting enough to merit a post or two.
@Michael: I think the non-standard meaning is attested in (some varieties of) Taiwan Mandarin.
Exhibit 1: The quote by Melvin Lee: '… in Taiwan people may say yī lì bīngqílín / chìt liàp peng-kî-lîm 一粒冰淇淋 ("a scoop of ice cream")'. The pinyin in the quote leads me to think that there are individuals who will use the classifier for ice cream scoops in Mandarin. Maybe I'm reading too much into the quote, but …
Exhibit 2: This paper (Mandarin pdf, sorry) describes the use of non-standard uses of 粒 lì in (Mandarin) essays written by Kaohsiung high school students (see ex. 4 for 一粒魚丸 one lì fishball).
http://study.naer.edu.tw/UploadFilePath/dissertation/l024_06_10vol024_06_10.pdf
Exhibit 3: Taiwan's ministry of foreign affairs website, presumably written in some kind of standard register of Mandarin: …贈送…貴賓每人一粒西瓜 "… give … guests one lì watermelon per person"
http://multilingual.mofa.gov.tw/web/web_UTF-8/out/2404/11.html
Victor Mair said,
September 9, 2016 @ 12:03 pm
"I'm just puzzled why it was interesting enough to merit a post or two."
That's your problem. Plenty of people have written to me to express interest and delight in these two posts on yīdàlì / chìt tōa liàp 一大粒.
Rodger C said,
September 9, 2016 @ 7:51 pm
May I deflect this thread to ask a question that's been bugging me for forty years? I, from West Virginia call a dollop of ice cream a "scoop"; so, evidently, does everyone here. But at Indiana University, the Baskin-Robbins staff always said "dip." I thought at the time it must be Southern v. Northern; but is "dip," instead, a regionalism, or even perhaps a term of art in the retailing of ice cream?
Michael Watts said,
September 10, 2016 @ 12:28 am
I, from California-slash-New Mexico, also measure ice cream in "scoops". I'm reasonably certain that was the terminology in New Mexico and completely certain it is the terminology in "northern" California. (Side note: I'm always amused that the identifier for what appears to be basically the center of the state is "northern California".)
Baskin-Robbins staff here say "scoop". It can't be company policy. That's as much as I can say.
Victor Mair said,
September 10, 2016 @ 7:25 am
From Bruce Humes:
When I saw your mention of “dollop,” I immediately thought you might have something there, Professor Mair, because in Cantonese 粒 ends with a “p” (lap1). And I recalled that my ex-wife, born in HK but with parents who speak Minnan Hua, once used 粒 as a measure word for an orange. Which I found odd.
I just checked the Minnan Yu dictionary, and it too shows “lia̍p” as the sound for 粒:
http://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/index.html
Also, in Minnan Yu 粒 doesn’t necessarily have to refer to something tiny. Again, from the dictionary:
計算顆粒狀物品的單位。例：一粒石頭 tsi̍t lia̍p tsio̍h-thâu。
Actually, I cycle to Anping (and the oceanside) every Monday, because that’s the day when Tainan’s 台湾文学馆 library — a lovely environment I treat as my own personal office — closes each week. So if I see the store, I’ll ask them about the derivation of the name.