Fish: Wealth, Abundance, Puns

What is the must-have dish for the Chinese New Year?

Fish.

As a child, we always had fish during the Chinese New Year. A whole fish. We would buy a whole fish, gut the fish ourselves, and eat the fish with its head attaching to its body.

My Chinese friend Chang Rong from Chandler’s Ford is originally from north China. As a teacher of Chinese language and culture, Chang Rong is sharing with us why the Chinese eat fish during the Lunar New Year.

“Fish is a must-have dish for us to have on Chinese New Year’ Eve when the whole family gets together.”

“Fish is the dish that is arranged at the centre of the dining table, surrounded by other dishes.”

“The Chinese character for fish 鱼 (yú) sounds the same as the character for ‘surplus’, 余 (yú). People hope that in the New Year, they will do well financially – 富富有余 (fù fù yǒu yú), meaning being rich and having much more. So fish is a symbol of wealth, 余 means plenty of wealth, implying your wealth never ends.”

From Chang Rong, Chinese teacher from Chandler’s Ford, Eastleigh.

It is a clear explanation about the symbol of fish from the Chinese culture. Thank you Chang Rong.

Apart from 富富有余 (fù fù yǒu yú), there is another similar expression: Wishing you wealth year after year: 年年有余 (nián nián yǒu yú).

These are appropriate phrases to use if you wish to send someone Chinese greeting during the Chinese New Year.

Do you eat fish ‘cheeks’?

By the way, which part of the fish do you love best?

I love eating fish cheeks. The cheek of the fish is hidden in a small cavity just below the eye. It is the most tender, and the most precious part of a fish.

I used to buy Sea Bass or Sea Bream from the supermarket. I always reminded the fishmongers to ‘keep the fish head and tail intact’ for me. I asked them not to cut off the fish head from its body.

However, sometimes the fishmongers would try to be clever and chop off the fish head. When I collected the fish, I would check for the head. Sometimes there was no head. Why would I buy a whole fish without a head? Would you?

Now I would like to entertain you with some fish puns.

Hilarious fish puns

In the world of Twitter, a pun-filled Twitter exchange about fish recently has become an Internet sensation.

Read the hilarious pun battle between Sainsbury’s social media team and its customer:

Marty Lawrence – aka @TeaAndCopy – tweeted the supermarket Sainsbury’s, telling them: “I tried to buy some battered fish from @sainsburys but it didn’t have a bar cod!” This ‘complaint’ sparked off clever puns:

I tried to buy some battered fish from @sainsburys but it didn’t have a bar cod!

— Marty Lawrence (@TeaAndCopy) January 10, 2014

@TeaAndCopy Were there no other packs in the plaice, or was that the sole one on the shelf? Floundering for an explanation! David.

— Sainsbury’s (@sainsburys) January 10, 2014

.@sainsburys I tried dropping you a line but this whole situation is giving me a haddock. What are you going to do about it? Let minnow.

— Marty Lawrence (@TeaAndCopy) January 10, 2014

@TeaAndCopy If I’m herring you right, you’re looking to eel our relationship. I’ll tell the store to find the shelf & fillet. David.
— Sainsbury’s (@sainsburys) January 10, 2014

.@sainsburys I don’t think it’s necessary to scale the shelves, David. There’s no point doing it for the halibut. You might pull a mussel.
— Marty Lawrence (@TeaAndCopy) January 10, 2014

@TeaAndCopy I feel that some fin should be done to sort it trout. You shouldn’t have that hassle when trying to spend a few squid. David.
— Sainsbury’s (@sainsburys) January 10, 2014

.@sainsburys Something dolphinately needs to be done about it. The quicker we sort it out the batter. Before the situation gets cray. Marty.
— Marty Lawrence (@TeaAndCopy) January 10, 2014

@TeaAndCopy Agreed, we mustn’t shark the issue. Salmon should be brought to account for this mis-hake. David.
— Sainsbury’s (@sainsburys) January 10, 2014

.@sainsburys Sorry for carping on about this, David. With mistakes, it’s just nice to be given the oppor-tuna-ty to mullet it over. Marty.
— Marty Lawrence (@TeaAndCopy) January 10, 2014

@TeaAndCopy It’s ok, just needs sorted quickly. I’ll get my skates on & scallop down there now. Can’t be leaving you in the perch. David.
— Sainsbury’s (@sainsburys) January 10, 2014

.@sainsburys Don’t feel gill-ty, David. It was a simple error. Good luck trawling through the products, although you’re clearly a dab hand!
— Marty Lawrence (@TeaAndCopy) January 10, 2014

@TeaAndCopy It’s important these things don’t slip the net. Things could be a shoal lot worse if we don’t get on our pike & fix it. David.
— Sainsbury’s (@sainsburys) January 10, 2014

.@sainsburys Try not to be so koi, David. It’s easy to get hooked and then feel out of your depth. I wait with baited breath for your reply.
— Marty Lawrence (@TeaAndCopy) January 10, 2014

@TeaAndCopy It would be shellfish not to get it sorted. We wouldn’t bream of upsetting our customers by accident or on porpoise. David.
— Sainsbury’s (@sainsburys) January 10, 2014

.@sainsburys All these exchanges in a roe have been brill-iant, David. I'll try to kipper a lid on it, but Gods hake, it's been fin-tastic.

— Marty Lawrence (@TeaAndCopy) January 10, 2014

@TeaAndCopy You’ve been off the scale too! Think I might clam up now, my colleague Ray is in later though if you fancy a fin-wag. David.
— Sainsbury’s (@sainsburys) January 10, 2014

.@sainsburys Thank you. This has probably been the finnacle of my tweeting career. Carp diem, David.
— Marty Lawrence (@TeaAndCopy) January 10, 2014