The god of chopsticks
Shanghai -- I was having lunch with my Chinese assistant, which I absolutely love. I was hungry and service was slow. As we sat there waiting, I started playing with my chopsticks, just killing time while sort of unable to put together a conversation, my brain too overwhelmed by a starving stomach.
My assistant turns to me and goes: "That's bad manners". She pauses a second and elaborates: "When I was a child, my mum used to reproach me when I did that because she said that I was bothering the god of chopsticks."
"The god of what?!", I am back and awake.
"The god of chopsticks" - she reiterates. "You know, we Chinese have a god for anything. So if you act like that you call for him without actually having anything to ask him so you just bother him in vain. And this makes him upset."
I tried to understand what this god is supposedly good for but she had no clue. Maybe it's just a story her mum made up to teach her table etiquette. Or maybe it is actually an old belief - I gotta look into it.
Regardless, isn't it just wonderful? The god of chopsticks!
I love it!
My assistant turns to me and goes: "That's bad manners". She pauses a second and elaborates: "When I was a child, my mum used to reproach me when I did that because she said that I was bothering the god of chopsticks."
"The god of what?!", I am back and awake.
"The god of chopsticks" - she reiterates. "You know, we Chinese have a god for anything. So if you act like that you call for him without actually having anything to ask him so you just bother him in vain. And this makes him upset."
I tried to understand what this god is supposedly good for but she had no clue. Maybe it's just a story her mum made up to teach her table etiquette. Or maybe it is actually an old belief - I gotta look into it.
Regardless, isn't it just wonderful? The god of chopsticks!
I love it!