187 Jealousy

Do you like to eat/drink vinegar? What’s that got to do with being jealous? ShaoLan and Josh tackle this rather tricky issue in this entertaining episode where ShaoLan tells a story from the Tang Dynasty in ancient China, which explains the reason behind the description of being jealous in Chinese as “eating vinegar”! Originally unaware of this association, Josh talks about how he mistakenly described himself as a jealous person, when really just wanting to say he likes to eat vinegar (with dumplings of course)!

The Chinese word for eating vinegar is 吃醋, which is made up of 吃, the verb “to eat” and 醋 the word for “vinegar.” However, as a phrase, this doesn’t simply mean “eat vinegar” it means “to be jealous”!