HALF FOIL
To my knowledge the word "half foil" is undisputedly a Tamilian inflection which I first came across while reading for my Bachelors of Dental Surgery at the Annamalai University, Chidambaram. Prior, to this, I was at the Lawrence School, Lovedale where we prided ourselves over the command and delivery of the English language.
It was at The Double A restaurant (known for its gastronomic fare which was "cheap and best") that I expanded my lexicon. I wanted a sunny side up (bull's eye) to go along with my coin parottas and everything I said in the way of ordering one made no change to the stony mask of non comprehension on my waiters face. I resorted to my failsafe routine of dumb charades and waved my fingers madly at the neighbouring table where the gentleman was savouring a splendid single fried egg. Comprehension dawned like the morning sun on Swami's countenance and he uttered the golden words “half boil aaa” with an upward intonation indicating a query. His bright face sagged a bit when he saw that I did I not share in this enthusiaistic discovery, but he pressed on...“Half boil?” And I nodded meekly with my faith resting on Swami's exuberance. Five minutes later I was presented a culinary creation known to the world as a single fried egg.
My interest was piqued. Why half boil? Yes the egg is heated, but in oil not water. My next visit I asked for a "full boil" and was treated to a complete fried egg (double sided). I dismissed it as a peculiar usage and moved on only to be stumped at another restaurant with the query “half foil aaa”. Now it became slightly bewildering. I said OK and received another single fried egg...more education. This was worth investigating and I stumbled upon the answer by exploring the linguistic nuances of Tamil. There is great economy of letters in the Tamil alphabet with P and B represented by the same letter. Hence it is quite common to hear Party being pronounced Barty, and Padmanabhan being referred to as Badmanabhan. Now on further inspection I found that the letter ‘F’ does not exist in Tamil and hence is substituted by the same letter that denotes P or B. Now consider the dilemma for a native English speaker or for one possessing a reasonable command over the language. Words suddenly get lost in transliteration and for a grammar nazi life would come to a pull stop.
So the next time you are confused when the waiter reads out a long menu that includes Pish and Frawns in the Seapood flatter, politely ask him for a nice Half Boil/Poil/Foil instead and enjoy :)
It was at The Double A restaurant (known for its gastronomic fare which was "cheap and best") that I expanded my lexicon. I wanted a sunny side up (bull's eye) to go along with my coin parottas and everything I said in the way of ordering one made no change to the stony mask of non comprehension on my waiters face. I resorted to my failsafe routine of dumb charades and waved my fingers madly at the neighbouring table where the gentleman was savouring a splendid single fried egg. Comprehension dawned like the morning sun on Swami's countenance and he uttered the golden words “half boil aaa” with an upward intonation indicating a query. His bright face sagged a bit when he saw that I did I not share in this enthusiaistic discovery, but he pressed on...“Half boil?” And I nodded meekly with my faith resting on Swami's exuberance. Five minutes later I was presented a culinary creation known to the world as a single fried egg.
My interest was piqued. Why half boil? Yes the egg is heated, but in oil not water. My next visit I asked for a "full boil" and was treated to a complete fried egg (double sided). I dismissed it as a peculiar usage and moved on only to be stumped at another restaurant with the query “half foil aaa”. Now it became slightly bewildering. I said OK and received another single fried egg...more education. This was worth investigating and I stumbled upon the answer by exploring the linguistic nuances of Tamil. There is great economy of letters in the Tamil alphabet with P and B represented by the same letter. Hence it is quite common to hear Party being pronounced Barty, and Padmanabhan being referred to as Badmanabhan. Now on further inspection I found that the letter ‘F’ does not exist in Tamil and hence is substituted by the same letter that denotes P or B. Now consider the dilemma for a native English speaker or for one possessing a reasonable command over the language. Words suddenly get lost in transliteration and for a grammar nazi life would come to a pull stop.
So the next time you are confused when the waiter reads out a long menu that includes Pish and Frawns in the Seapood flatter, politely ask him for a nice Half Boil/Poil/Foil instead and enjoy :)
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