27 January 2006

Usapang Torta (Torta talk)

I've been searching the Net for an english equivalent for the word "torta" but was not successful. There doesn't seem to be an equivalent word for it! But the closest I can think of is the omelet, as torta's primary ingredient is also beaten egg and subsequently mixed or folded into something else.

Anyways, I was having lunch at a roadside food stand (more commonly known as Jollijeep) a while ago when a customer ordered torta.

Customer: Pabili po ng torta (an order of torta please)
Seller: Lalaki o babae? (Boy or girl?)

Eh? I thought to myself. I didn't know the torta has a gender. My curiosity was soon satisfied when the seller explained. Apparently I wasn't the only clueless person in the crowd.

Seller: And tortang lalaki ay Tortang talong at ang tortang babae ay yung may patatas. (Ok...this is more difficult to translate... The torta with eggplant is the boy, while the torta with diced potatoes is the girl).

You learn something new every day :-)

5 comments:

  1. Over here, we would probably call it egg bake or quiche. Even with the explaination, I have a hard time seeing how they got boy or girl out of eggplants and potatoes.

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  2. Anonymous12:29 pm

    *nagsalubong ang kilay* patatas=girl? hmmm medyo malalim ata, hindi ko kayang sisirin. not even the freudian tinidor=lalaki - kutsara=babae comes close to torta psychopathology. we need to investigate this ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2:32 pm

    no need to investigate. just imagine the "shape" of raw talong and patatas. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Ed and Bambit! The eggplant was quite understandable for a boy. But for the eggs and potatoes mix for a girl, that also left me wondering.

    Rnold, you were able to unravel the mystery? Shall I ask for an explanation? But is it proper for my General Patronage blog audience? Hmmmm....

    ReplyDelete

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