Language Log

« previous post | next post »

At the top left and bottom left of this restaurant's home page, written in very small Roman capital letters, it says, "ORISSIC HOT POT", and that is paired with the Chinese name, "zhè yī xiǎoguō 這一小鍋" ("this small pot").

If we do a Google search on "orissic hot pot 這一小鍋" (without the quote marks), we will get 4 pages and 80,000 ghits, the first of which is bafflingly "jīngdiǎn shítou guō" 經典石頭鍋 ("Classic Stone [hot] pot").  If we do a Google search on "經典石頭鍋 classic stone [hot] pot" (without the quote marks), we will get 4 pages and 15,100 ghits.

From reading through the entries in both searches, I get the impression that the switcheroo from jingdiǎn shítou guō 經典石頭鍋 ("Classic Stone [hot] pot") to "zhè yī xiǎoguō 這一小鍋" ("this small pot") arose as a result of a dispute over who has the rights to the name jingdiǎn shítou guō 經典石頭鍋 ("Classic Stone [hot] pot"), which may even have made its way into the courts, including conflicts with aborigines (e.g., Amis) who claimed the latter wording.

I should mention that "zhè yī xiǎoguō 這一小鍋" ("this small pot") has branches all over Taiwan, while 經典石頭鍋 ("Classic Stone [hot] pot") has branches that extend even to Hong Kong (Mong Kok).

As for how "Classic" morphed into "Orissic", that would appear to be simply a gross, visual misperception that has nothing to do with "Orissan" cuisine, which, in any case, is not known for fondue / hot pot.

For transliteration sticklers:

In 2011, the English rendering of ଓଡ଼ିଶା was changed from "Orissa" to "Odisha", and the name of its language from "Oriya" to "Odia", by the passage of the Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010 and the Constitution (113th Amendment) Bill, 2010 in the Parliament. The Hindi rendering उड़ीसा (uṛīsā) was also modified to ओड़िशा (or̥iśā). After a brief debate, the lower house, Lok Sabha, passed the bill and amendment on 9 November 2010. On 24 March 2011, Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Parliament, also passed the bill and the amendment. The changes in spelling were made with the intention of having the English and Hindi renditions conform to the Odia transliteration. However, the underlying Odia texts were nevertheless transliterated incorrectly as per the Hunterian system, the official national transliteration standard, in which the transliterations would be Orisha and Oria instead.

(source)

A tempest in a hot pot!

 

Selected readings

• "Biangbiang: authentic Xi'an grub in the heart of Philadelphia's University City" (6/6/22)
• "Tao vs. Dao: amazing restaurant sign near UPenn" (12/24/19) — prototypical hot pot
• "Pork in a pot" (2/23/21)
• "Shifting valences of 'throwing the pot' in Chinese" (5/14/20)
• "Don't Kettle" (11/4/10)
• "Me Old China" (1/18/13) — and don't miss the comments
• "What's the History of the Wok? A Continuing Investigation", by Rachel Laudan (1/20/13)
• "Hong Kong’s fascination with ghosts and woks shows Cantonese can be a lot more subtle than we think", by Luisa Tam, SCMP (2/29/20)
  "The words can be used in a dazzling array of combinations that allow humour to take the sting out of rudeness, and ‘gwei’, or ghost, is not always negative. It would not be an exaggeration to say that a wok is as essential a cookware in Chinese culture as it is in daily local conversations."

[h.t. AntC]

November 3, 2022 @ 9:25 am · Filed by Victor Mair under Language and food, Lost in translation, Miswriting, Transcription

Permalink