....and let's go fly some kites!

Back in 1963, my neighbourhood schoolmate Huan-chooo told me that the idiom, "go fly a kite" is to "go take a hike!",

....and that means to "go away, get lost!...don't be a such a nuisance". He was quite right, although not quite living up to his nick-name. Huan-chooo means potato, and you know why he was nick-named as such. The malay equivalent "ubi kentang" meant the same thing.


So, sometimes I'd ask elder brother Cheekiat who's not so strong in English, to "...go fly a kite!" when I'm really pissed with him.

....and he did.

He actually did so on those hot and windy days. Fly kites.

I watched in horror (with palms over my eyes, blurring out my vision) as Cheekiat lost kite after kite from his arsenal... But he really enjoyed his "kites-fights".

His younger brother, however, really pitied his losses, his "wau puli" the smallest and cheapest kite at 5 cents/2pcs, his "wau katak", - the medium size kite shaped like a frog, (hence "katak") costs 10 cents a piece, and his large "tua-wau" at a minimum of 15 cents a piece,....must have cost him a small fortune.


Just imagine that 10 cents can buy you a bowl of Hokkien Mee in those days. How much would he have lost at today's prices in Penang?

....and as you now already know, "tua" means big in fujian, "Wau" mean kite in malay. Fujian lingo don't have the W in "Wau" (Malay lingo) pronounced, so those kites are called "aupuli", "aukatak", and "tua-au"!...and every kid in the neighbourhood thinks that they are original fujian words! Me included.

Early last year in 2009 when the global economy worsened, people tend to understand the idiom "go fly a kite" better. For instance take a look at this guy, a business man....

....flying his kite.

Our favourite kite flying spots then were in the "myriad" of backlanes, and in the compounds of the Penang Youth Center, Mesjid Jamek in Acheen Street and in Khoo Kongsi.. I never really lost many kites in "air-fights" like my brother; but as a poor kite-flyer, my kites  normally end up.....

Then brother Cheekiat will tell me, "You go fly kites lah!...it's better to lose those kites in air-fights!" He is begining to learn English fast; so fast that he is applying it perfectly to the right situation.