Chopsticks
Writing Challenge 2024
Posted by Chris Sissons on May 8, 2024
Writing Challenge ยป Chris Sissons
Let’s talk about chopsticks. I learned to use chopsticks many years ago. A young woman taught me but I have no idea who it was! I think we ate together and she cooked. She showed me how you hold one steady and the other as you would hold a pen. This one can move and so the two sticks together form, I suppose, a species of tweezers so that you can grasp food and convey it to your mouth.
Thanks to whoever taught me this – a life skill I have never forgotten even though I’ve forgotten my teacher. (Note, I may know the person but I’ve forgotten that she taught me. I’m glad that’s cleared up! )
Some years later a friend (I do remember who this was) visited Japan. Upon her return, she gave me a bamboo cup and these Japanese chopsticks. These are elegant chopsticks and I value them for their beauty plus a specific utility.
One interesting thing to observe is these chopsticks have a pointed end. This is because Japanese chopsticks are not so much tweezers as harpoons. The Japanese pierce their food and convey it to the mouth that way. I’m not entirely clear about the ins and outs of this but it probably has something to do with sticky rice balls.
I can remember as a child visiting one of my father’s aunts. She was the proud owner of something that fascinated me. It was a long plastic stick with a little plastic hand on one end. The index finger was pointing. This I was informed is a back scratcher. It was a little creepy but presumably did the job. I’m sure you know that place on your back you cannot quite reach even when you contort your body and your hand up your back.
Now, I’m not entertaining any nonsense from my readers. You all have backs that need to be scratched from time to time. You may have invested in a little hand on a stick but I suspect the overwhelming majority have experimented with various objects and lighted upon something ideal, just reaching the spot. (And no nonsense about your partner helping out. What do you use when your partner isn’t present, eh?)
Guess what I use.
This is Day 11 of Writing Challenge 2024. People all over the world take part in the WC. We write something every weekday for 4 weeks based on a prompt This year, I'll be sharing 21 articles based loosely on prompts about parts of the body. Do we fully appreciate the role things and stuff play in our lives? Each part of the body has certain things and stuff associated with it. (Probably!) I've no idea where this will go but hope you enjoy the journey. The introductory post was Things and Stuff. The last post was Gaudeamus Igitur and the next is Saag, Gobi, Aloo.
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