又中又英｜Yeet hei

Longtime readers of my column may remember I wrote about scraping the back of my throat while swallowing chewed peanuts more than ten years ago. To scrape used this way means to injure with something sharp such as chewed peanuts. As I said in my column, the injury caused a huge blood bubble at the back of my throat which burst and caused a mouth ulcer. Many readers emailed me at the time to say I had “yeet hei”, a Chinese expression that roughly means heat element inside your body. Foods such as potato chips, peanuts, and mangoes can cause “yeet hei”.

I remembered that column when I told a friend during my recent Hong Kong visit that I liked ginger tea. I make it myself by boiling fresh ginger with water. I sometimes add honey. My friend cut me short and told me ginger tea made that way is very “yeet hei”. To cut people short means to interrupt them before they have finished what they were saying. I am dumb as a rock about what causes “yeet hei”. To be dumb as a rock means to be very stupid or unintelligent. But if you say you are dumb as a rock about something, it means you know nothing about it.

Is ginger tea really “yeet hei”? I hope not because I love ginger. I looked high and low (everywhere) for a jar of pickled ginger while in Hong Kong, but no store sold it. It is easily available in Chinese supermarkets in the US. I am now in Taipei and hope I can find it. Happy 2024 to you all!

长期读我专栏的读者们可能都会记得，我大概超过十年前曾写过，我在吞吃咀嚼过的花生时刮到（scraping）喉咙的背部。To scrape在这里是指以某些尖利的东西刮伤，例如咀嚼过的花生。正如我在专栏中所说，那次刮伤引致喉咙背部起了一个大血泡，它爆破再变成了口腔溃疡。那时有许多读者电邮给我，说我有「热气」，粗略地说就是身体有些上火了。薯片、花生和芒果也可以导致「热气」。

当我最近回港，跟朋友说我喜欢姜茶的时候，我想起了那篇专栏。我喜欢用水煲滚新鲜的姜片，有时会加蜜糖。我的朋友cut me short，跟我说这样煮姜茶非常热气。To cut people short是指在别人未说完之前打断人说话。我对于是甚么导致热气实在 dumb as a rock—— to be dumb as a rock是指愚笨得很、蠢钝得像块石头一般；但若你说 you are dumb as a rock about something，意即你对某事物一窍不通、一无所知。

姜茶真的「热气」吗？我希望不是吧，因为我很爱吃姜。我在香港的时候，四处搜寻（high and low）一樽腌姜，但没有店铺有售。我在美国的一些中式超市很容易便找到。我现在身处台北，希望能找得到吧。祝大家二零二四年新年快乐！

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻