Language gone Loco Part VII

A colleague She Wei handed me a cup of jelly she made. The following is an exchange of emails after she returned to her desk.

ME:
Very nice.. what is it made up of?
What is it called again?

SW:
konyaku jelly
slightly "harder" then normal agar agar
but the "Q" "Q" feeling better when u chew :-)
glad tat u like it

(At this point, I turned to a friend sitting next to me. Ben (Singaporean Eurasian).

ME:
Hey..

BEN:
Yeah?

ME:
Check this email out.. Why is the word “harder” in quotation marks, and.. what the hell does “Q” “Q” mean?

BEN:
I have no idea man..

ME:
I’m sure it’s some local slang.

BEN:
Never heard of it. SW speaks in a different language sometimes.. I don’t get what she’s trying to say half the time.

ME:
Damn, I can’t take it.. Let me ask.

(I emailed SW and a close friend of mine from college, Yen, at the same time. )

1.
ME to SW:
By the way, what does QQ mean?

2.
ME to YEN:
What the fuck does QQ mean?

SW replies first...
ME:
(upon reading)
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

(Ben turns to me.)

BEN:
So what is it?

ME:
HAHAHAHAHA!! You have to read this!!!

email from SW:
like chewing "bubbles" in bubble tea :-)
crunchy crunchy :-p

BEN and ME:
HAHAHAHAHA!!!

ME:
Never mind the word… how is something chewy and crunchy at the same time anyway?

BEN:
Who knows..

ME:
I know, I know.. Maybe QQ is a famous brand of Taiwanese bubble tea. that'll make sense. I’m sure of it!

At this point, Yen replies on email:
U know the feeling when u bite into some jelly and when it requires more chewing, like gummies for example? Something to dat effect… Surely u could guess from the sound of it??

ME:
(shouting out to Ben)
WHAT THE FUCK!!! BEN! BEN! BEN! It’s an actual word!!!! Get over here!!

BEN:
(he reads)
Shit!!

ME:
I know!!

I reply to Yen:
i thought she came up with the word herself!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What the fuck!!! Is there a language everyone here is speaking which I don’t know of??
And what do you mean surely I can guess from the sound of it?
The letter “Q” sounds NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING like chewing!
I thought QQ was a brand of bubble tea!
What language did this term originate from?

YEN:
Okay, what word would u use to describe the sound of such chewing?
If I’m not wrong, I think the Taiwanese uses it this way as well…

ME:
Errrr….
Stringy? Gooey? Sticky? Gummy? Rubbery?
Or simply, just, CHEWY?
How the fuck does one chew to make a “Q” sound???? Come on!!!!!

(I went home and told my mum about it.)

ME:
(I couldn’t stop laughing as I was relating the story)
HAHAHAHAHA!

MUM:
What??

ME:
....……and she says… “QQ” feeling..

MUM:
Yeah.. That means chewy.

ME:
(My jaw dropped.) w…hat…??

MUM:
Don’t you know..

ME:
Fuck.. Even YOU know?

MUM:
It’s probably Chinese. Learned it from the market.

ME:
Question.

MUM:
Yeah?

ME:
What kind of a school did you enroll me into? Where the hell were these people when I was growing up? I swear, I never heard of it in my life.

MUM:
You’re hopeless.. It’s a slang. Probably…

ME:
I’m not sure if it’s my fault really. I mean, I grew up with mostly Chinese friends. I certainly don’t remember “QQ“… or songsong, or soso, or tengteng…

(hmmm... I wonder if my brother knows.)

Language gone Loco Part VI

MSN Conversation with a friend, Lola.

LOLA:
why do you like this picture of mine?

ME:
you look cute in that one.

LOLA:
but i look so TOOT.

ME:
(thinking to myself: TOOT? tooting your own horn? or toot... coke?)

huhhhh?
toot???

LOLA:
i meant something like.. nerd.

ME:
uh.....huh.