The family post

Here in my family we do have quite a strong online presence. As I mentioned the other day, I have four siblings, and three of them blog! Anna, you guessed right in that I am the oldest.

Second sibling is Ms CherryRipe* in Sydney. She’s probably the most well-travelled of us all, having been to exotic places like Egypt, Switzerland, Venice, New York and Leeds. Cherry has been blogging about her experiences in the office for yonks now, and re|me is the current evolution.

Next we have the food pornographer aka tfp, who specialises in food photography. She’s a PhD candidate and I believe the blog is a great diversion and outlet, for all those times in between chapters.

Then we have our brother MC, who doesn’t blog or have a personal website, but is perfectly happy. I’d love to read anything he wrote (he has a wonderfully wry sense of humour) but I’m sure he’s far too busy to even consider it, given that he has a hectic job and is working on his renovator’s dream house with his wife, A.

Last, but not least, we have Juji, who’s been maintaining a LiveJournal for something like three or four six years now. I don’t know if I should link to it, given that its password protected and you have to be in with the writer to be allowed in – Juji’s partner J has a LiveJournal too (I just learned a new word: sif).

Cultural note:
In line with Chinese tradition, we address each other by names for our relative positions in the family. Those younger have to use the various terms to refer to those older. Thus, my siblings have never used my name to speak to me. Because I am the oldest, I can call Cherry Cherry, tfp tfp, and so on.

I am called 家姐 (Cantonese ga je), which means Elder Sister. How’s this for cultural change? Because we usually only ever speak English to each other, the proper ga je has over time morphed into Kach. (Pronounced like the word “catch”, but with the vowel like the a in the word “father”.) That’s how birthday cards, emails, and letters are addressed to me, and that’s the term I answer to in everyday conversation.

Tfp, MC and Juji, being younger than CherryRipe, started off calling her 二姐 (Cantonese yi je; Second Sister). This term, in our family, has now become Yeech. Lest you think it looks and sounds remarkably like a term to express disgust, it does. Eeuu, urg, yuck, yeech! But we of course say it with affection – no disgust or disdain whatsoever. I think I like this form best as it’s so distinctive. I of course call Cherry plain Cherry, although if I am referring to her when talking to our younger siblings, I call her Yeech too.

MC and Juji, being younger than tfp, are supposed to call her 三姐 (Cantonese sam je; Third Sister). No doubt you can guess this one by now? Yes, tfp, to her younger siblings, is Samch. This one sounds kind of mobster-ish and cool.

Juji, being younger than MC, is meant to address him as 哥哥 (Cantonese go go; Older Brother). He is Cokes! Being the youngest, Juji has to address each of us by the correct relationship terms, of course: Kach, Yeech, Samch and Cokes.

Our parents are plain old Mum and Dad (although Mum gets called Mumsie a lot). Mum occasionally uses the morphed terms when talking about each of us, although she does use the traditional forms a lot too. I have no idea how the terms changed, although I do know they only changed after we arrived Down Under.

*All names in this post have been changed to protect the unsuspecting!
Categories: family