HEATY
or in cantonese yit hei
I’ve heard so often phrases like, “Oh, I’m feeling heaty” and “Eh- don’t eat so much of that la, heaty!” or “I’m heaty edi, going to fall sick soon.”
So my question is, what is Heaty ?!?
Now, many out there will be saying , what do you mean what is heaty, heaty is heaty la ! The problem is- I do not get heaty. Yup, I don’t feel this indescribable internal combustion that I think all of my Chinese friends seem to get, and they get it quite often I must add. So, because I do not get heaty, I do not get heaty. (hur hur, bad pun) But it’s true! I always ask those who feel heaty, what is it? Rubin tried answering by saying it’s when you eat something and it raises your body temperature. Well, perhaps… but no, I don’t thing that’s precisely it. It’s not about the body physically going up a few degrees centigrade, I mean, people don’t put the thermometer under their armpits and 2minutes later declare themselves heaty. Most can’t put their finger on it or explain it exactly, but this is the best part: They can’t tell me what it is, but they can most confidently tell me what food is heaty and what is not…
Heaty: Peanuts, durian, Milo, langsat, milk, eggs, chocolate, all fried stuff, mutton, honey...
Cooling: Cucumber, kangkung, winter melon, Cincau, fruits like watermelon & honeydew...
(anything else? this was what i've been told by Heaty believers anyway!)
I remember the last time this heaty issue was brought up, I was laughing myself silly cause Jon said he couldn’t eat the Famous Amos cookies cause he was feeling like he might be falling sick. I was defending the cookies, saying no problem la- go eat it! And he was saying, no, heaty!…In the end apa jadi? He didn’t succumb, stayed away from the cookies and guess what? His family ate them. Muahaha...
<--Evil!
Getting back to my not getting heaty, possibly it’s a Chinese thing, and since my Chinese blood has been ‘enriched’ with Scottish blood, maybe that’s the answer to why I don’t get it. By saying that though, that'll be concluding it’s a hereditary thing, passed down through the generations from those who were building the Great Wall many, many moon cakes ago, and only to purebloods. When I say purebloods, it’s when mommy and daddy both are Chinese, not getting into whether both are Hakka or Hokkien or Cantonese or … ah!you know what I mean...
So I my recent discussion, “heaty” was seen as a possible medical thing. Clearly, as an English Language and Literature undergraduate I am an expert on the matter. Medically, if a heaty believer ate a whole bag of cookies, and fell sick the next day, it would be blamed on the cookies. But for a non-heaty believer, if he ate the same bag of cookies and fell sick, he’d say it was because there’s a bug going around, or someone passed him the flu…In no way would he associate getting sick with the cookies. Then again, is it a psychological thing? I mean, is it possible that this heaty concept, having been drilled into the brains of most Chinese kids by their Chinese mothers, they grow up believing in this thing called heaty. Could it be mind over matter?
So to test this theory, we need 3 subjects- Subject A is a typical Cina-pek, totally in tune with the philosophies of the mighty Heaty (he’s the control subject), Subject B is a pure Cina but does not believe in heaty (would be very hard to find) and Subject C would be me la- a heaty agnostic. We are separately placed in a bacteria-free zone, and we devour fried chicken, milk, eggs, chocolate and of course….cookies! If we all fall sick, then heaty is real! If A and B fall sick, means it’s a Chinese gene thing. And if only A falls sick, then it’s a psychological thing.
I still don’t believe in heaty. It’s hard to believe in something you don’t experience. Kinda like God i guess.
But next time anyone tells me they feel heaty, don’t be surprised when I don’t nod my head in understanding…
...and happily finish all the Famous Amos cookies.
ps: is it just a chinese thing though?
13 comments:
Shelby only gets 'in heat'. Never heaty, but always in heat.
Truthfully, I cannot give you a darn clear definition of what heaty is. I know the following might seem to a pretty bad example but please do bear with me.
Take for example, in the English Language context, the word BEAUTIFUL. You can see the physical representation of the word in a person or a thing,but not neccesarily limited to just that-it can be felt too.
Eg. Beautiful girl VS Beautiful song
-you can see that the girl is beautiful but you can only feel that the song is beautiful.
Thus the question of heaty-ness(if ever such a word) - to those well-versed with the usage of beautiful in both example, he/she will have no difficulty in understanding why the word beautiful behaves in this kind of manner. I believe many of us can only go as far as explaining that "that's the way it goes, some of the things are meant to be taken as they are, not to fully comprehend".
By saying this then, those who, for some reasons or other, cannot see the difference in both context might have difficulties in understanding its usage.
Tada..Where am I heading to? I am trying to say that heaty-ness is something someone use to describe the feeling he/she feels before falling sick, more often than not accompany by such symptoms as sore throats, bodily joint-ache, etc.
Now on to the chinese PoV. I believe Shelby has a point by saying it is a Chinese Thing because of the fact that traditional chinese medicine originated from China, and has herbs that will actually de-heaty-fy you(ya, its true!). For that simple fact...explains why chinese feels strongly about being heaty.
Yeah, heaty-ness is something someone use to describe the feeling he/she feels before falling sick, more often than not accompany by such symptoms as sore throats, bodily joint-ache, etc.
p/s - a way to test whether you are heaty or not is to drink tonic water(those sold in tins as can drinks).
Heaty positive - when it tastes good
Heaty negative - when it tastes bitter and slightly bad.
aiya...one simple way to find out whether u're "heaty" or not is when u fart, u can actually feel the heat in ur...err...butt hole. the main point, however, lies within the concentration of the smell.
if u take a whiff n u urself oso kenot tahan ur own smell, means it's heaty. (unless u've some weird fetishes...then there's nothing to say edi :P)
In my parent's definition, heaty means when I wolf down Twisties, Mentos and the like.
It's proven even further when I get the fever, although there are many other factors that cause fever.
If you ask me, I wouldn't know how to explain heaty either. Not that it's some ancient word, or that I'm a half-banana, but I just can't explain it.
But like your friends put it, ya, it's probably those stuff that aren't good for your body, though I'm not sure those cooling substances are all that healthy either.
... to Justin.
Hi Shelby,
I've been eating relatively bland food here and still feel yit-hei (or maybe its those chocolates and sweets..). Could u send me ur email cos i realise i dont have it!
-charity-
jaytee..u r real funny eventhough sounds lame... hats off to u man that u can come out with ideas like this.... LOL
The whole concept of heatyness is bollocks.
Hope this helps.
Only way you can get heaty is if you drink Scotch, since ur half Scot. Hur hur..
Or if you drive around Scotland Road at noon...
*yawn*
boring topic n u make it so long!!~...
if ur temperature goes up A FEW degrees cecius then u shud be in hospital already lah!...
mebe it goes up by 0.001... so u cant actually feel it!~...
Kevin: i sorta get ya...but- =p
JayTee: Sure or not? I've NEVER heard of such a thing in my life!
Charity: I asked Joshie to give u my email add edi
Rudi: Yeah man! (but only us hybrids can understand this.. ;p )
Ruby: So boring a topic then why you read huh? Like la assisted suicide so interesting... =p
The word 'heaty' as well as many other words are attempts to directly translate from a foreign language(in this case, Cantonese) to English for the sake of communicating on a common ground.
This happens is many countries, especially in South East Asia, as many of these countries are exposed to different language and cultures, therefore adapt themselves to speak a common language, either, Bahasa Malaysia or English.
Example:
1) Ngo hui chee soh - I go toilet.
2) Lei kong mat yeh? - You talk what thing?
3) Yat lou soun fung - One road smooth wind
4) Chun Toi - Spring Pocket
5) Sek chi kei - Sendiri makan
6) Yit Hei - heaty
And the list goes on.I'm sure everyone has heard of these words being blurted out loud in coffeeshops as non English educated individuals attempt to communicate in English.
The word 'heaty' orginally describes how one feels before one gets sick. However it can be used to explain certain body reaction such as your piss/urine is 'very yellow'(another direct translation) in color, throat irritation, body ache etc.
I'm not sure about fart being smelly, but eventhough if you do take a whiff when you fart, i think you have issues.
Anyways, heaty is a Malaysian thing or a Singaporean thing, either way 'heaty' orginated from these part of the world.
The world of Manglish, interesting ins't it?
Cheers!
Kopi-O one cup!
The word 'heaty' as well as many other words are attempts to directly translate from a foreign language(in this case, Cantonese) to English for the sake of communicating on a common ground.
This happens is many countries, especially in South East Asia, as many of these countries are exposed to different language and cultures, therefore adapt themselves to speak a common language, either, Bahasa Malaysia or English.
Example:
1) Ngo hui chee soh - I go toilet.
2) Lei kong mat yeh? - You talk what thing?
3) Yat lou soun fung - One road smooth wind
4) Chun Toi - Spring Pocket
5) Sek chi kei - Sendiri makan
6) Yit Hei - heaty
And the list goes on.I'm sure everyone has heard of these words being blurted out loud in coffeeshops as non English educated individuals attempt to communicate in English.
The word 'heaty' orginally describes how one feels before one gets sick. However it can be used to explain certain body reaction such as your piss/urine is 'very yellow'(another direct translation) in color, throat irritation, body ache etc.
I'm not sure about fart being smelly, but eventhough if you do take a whiff when you fart, i think you have issues.
Anyways, heaty is a Malaysian thing or a Singaporean thing, either way 'heaty' orginated from these part of the world.
The world of Manglish, interesting ins't it?
Cheers!
Kopi-O one cup!
calvinlim@gmail.com
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