Talk:Fat choy

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[edit] Need traditional characters

This article needs the Chinese traditional characters as well. Badagnani 01:40, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] why is this article at "fat choy"?

This thing is from northern China and is eaten all over China, not just in Hong Kong. Even the pun ("get rich quick") works in both Mandarin and Catnonese to the same extent (same sound, wrong tone on the second character). So I'm curious why it is at "fat choy" and not, say, the pinyin name or maybe "hair vegetable". --PalaceGuard008 14:17, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

This is English Wikipedia and that's the name most English-speaking people know this stuff by (if they know it at all), due to the original prevalence of Cantonese immigrants in the English speaking world. Just like we know the "mei" as "ume" or "doufu" as "tofu" because we learned about those things primarily from the Japanese. Badagnani 17:03, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Is there a reference for "fat choy" being the most common name? A rough google search turns up 933 results for "hair moss" - not exactly a rare usage. (Ed: I realised many of these were referring to the other moss).

Most (but not all) results for "facai" are about the new year greeting. In a search for "fat choy" (excluding wikipedia and mirrors), (it seems) all results are about the new year greeting, except for the "Wayne's World" page cited as a source here.

Just from that (very rough) search, I don't see a compelling reason why this article should be at "fat choy" rather than, say, hair moss.

cf Chinese cabbage, not bok choy. --PalaceGuard008 13:55, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

A google search for "Nostoc flagelliforme" (excluding Wikipedia and mirrors) yields a variety of common names: e.g.:

"In Chinese cuisine, "fat choy" in Cantonese or "fa cai" in Mandarin"

"Fa Cai (Nostoc flagelliforme) - how to test for fakes" ... "Fa Cai, Fatt Choy, Flah or Nostoc flagelliforme"

"the local consumption of Nostoc flagelliforme, i.e. hair moss"

"Nostoc flagelliforme or "fat choy""

Personally, I would yield to Martin Lee QC and the Hong Kong LegCo's command of English to place this article at hair moss.

As you said, this is the English Wikipedia, but that does not mean it is the American English Wikipedia.--PalaceGuard008 14:07, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

After some further online readings, I withdraw my objections - though I still think an English name is preferrable. --PalaceGuard008 14:40, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

I think it's the equivalent of how "bok choy" got into English. I don't think "hair moss" is used much in English and the plant is not really moss. Badagnani 15:08, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

I was influenced by the naming of Chinese cabbage rather than bok choy. You're right - "hair moss" is not used much in English and it often refers to something else entirely. Fat choy is not nearly as commonplace as Chinese cabbage outside China and Chinese-speaking communities, so it's not surprising that a prevalent English name has not developed. --PalaceGuard008 07:43, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Additional box

Article looks funny with Chinese box and taxobox. IMO this was one where the inline template is probably best, along with the taxobox. Badagnani 06:45, 29 July 2007 (UTC)