Chopsticks. Chop Chop.

Inevitably in teaching English I have to teach the students how to say "hashi" in English. The new word, chopsticks, is always followed by a detailed explanation in Japanese of how upon first contact with hashi, it appeared as if people were stabbing and well, chopping at their food. My junior high school students usually abandon their glazed over, utterly bored demeanor for one of befuddlement at how anyone could think hashi were meant for sawing through bowls of rice or tender fishies. Usually the explanation ends with all the students taking a sidelong glance at the only representative foreigner around (me), wondering how my ancestors could be so obtuse. Now, this phenomenon has always irritated me. In consequence, I recently did some research (translate- googled) the etymology of chopsticks. What I found begins with what might be the coolest phrase in the English language. Let's begin


Chop Chop.

One theory is that "chopsticks" comes from chop chop, meaning fast. Chop chop probably originated in Pidgin English, which was spoken for nearly 300 years as a means of communication between English and Chinese traders. "Chop" alone comes from a derivation of Chinese meaning "fast". Hence "chop chop" equals fast, or in a hurry. From Wikipedia:

The Mandarin Chinese word for chopsticks is kuàizi (筷子) or kuài'er (筷儿/筷兒). The character 筷 is composed of two parts, "快" meaning quick and “竹” meaning bamboo.

In Chinese, the old word for "chopsticks" was zhù. However, zhù became a taboo on ships because it sounded the same as another word meaning "to stop" (住). Consequently, it was replaced by a word of opposite meaning, kuài (fast, quick). This gradually spread until it became the word for "chopsticks" in most varieties of modern Chinese. The character for this new meaning of "chopsticks" (筷) for kuài has the character for bamboo added to the character meaning "fast" kuài (快).

How cool is that? I would say pretty awesome. Now I will end this blog entry chop chop.