# Are some chinese restaurant names jokes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618 "2005-09-27T03:22:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/1 "2005-09-27T03:22:47Z")
Where I live there’s **Yeung Ho** , **Hung Far** , and **Foo King Jon**. Can anyone translate? Can they be both real chinese names but also chosen because of their english phonetic double entendre? ---
**Author:** ![beckiemoriello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@beckiemoriello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckiemoriello)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/2 "2005-09-27T03:25:52Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#): > > Where I live there’s **Yeung Ho** , **Hung Far** , and **Foo King Jon**. Can anyone translate? Can they be both real chinese names but also chosen because of their english phonetic double entendre? there was a chinese place in the mall where i grew up called “Pot and Bowl.” i shit you not. northbrook court mall, northbrook IL ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/3 "2005-09-27T03:32:39Z")
There’s a place (apparently part of a chain) near my apartment called Wok & Go. Not particularly funny, until you read the sign closely: “I know, it’s only Wok & Go but I like it.” AWFUL. ---
**Author:** ![StuffLikeThatThere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@StuffLikeThatThere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StuffLikeThatThere)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/4 "2005-09-27T03:48:12Z")
On a recent trip, I ate at the A-Won buffet in New Martinsville, WV. It’s not obscene or anything, but it did make me scratch my head and wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/5 "2005-09-27T03:54:18Z")
> [@beckiemoriello](#): > > there was a chinese place in the mall where i grew up called “Pot and Bowl.” > > i shit you not. > > northbrook court mall, northbrook IL This is not Chinese food, but there’s a Thai restaurant near where I work called [Thai Stick](http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:14lehGWa7OoJ:www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/english/Ca/Cannabis.html+%22thai+stick%22+definition&hl=en). There’s also a Chinese restaurant in Berkeley called King Dong. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/6 "2005-09-27T04:20:53Z")
In Portland, OR we have the Hung Far Low cocktail bar. Apparently most of these names, including Hung Far Low, do actually translate into common Cantonese restaurant names. But one wonders whether the decision to name the bar “Hung Far Low,” wasn’t made with some thought given to the double meaning. (I know this because I asked a Cantonese speaker, but if you want a cite, here you go: [cite](http://www.ccamuseum.org/Research.html) ) ---
**Author:** ![MetroGnome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@MetroGnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MetroGnome)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/7 "2005-09-27T04:23:45Z")
There’s a Vietnamese restaurant somewhere 'round here called What the Pho. I’m sure they knew exactly what they were doing. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/8 "2005-09-27T04:25:26Z")
> [@Cagey Drifter](#): > > There’s also a Chinese restaurant in Berkeley called King Dong. If that’s the one down on Shattuck by Le Note, there used to be a massage parlor in the same building and the theatre on the opposite corner showed XXX movies a few decades ago, IIRC. It wasn’t a “dirty neighborhood” or anything but I sure noticed it as a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/9 "2005-09-27T04:39:02Z")
In Edmonton’s Chinatown there’s a Vietnamese place called the Wang-Lo. I went there fairly often when I worked downtown; apparently it used to be called the Lo-Wang, but got switched around. I’m pretty sure it’s a direct phonetic translation of something, but I don’t know what. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/10 "2005-09-27T04:40:07Z")
> [@MetroGnome](#): > > There’s a Vietnamese restaurant somewhere 'round here called What the Pho. I’m sure they knew exactly what they were doing. Well, I don’t know Chinese so I can’t answer the OP. I can tell you that “What the” doesn’t mean anything in Vietnamese, so yes, I agree, it’s an intentional play on the word pho. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/11 "2005-09-27T04:42:49Z")
That does it-some day I’m opening up a sushi place and naming it “Eat Me Raw”. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/12 "2005-09-27T04:49:46Z")
> [@Nanoda](#): > > In Edmonton’s Chinatown there’s a Vietnamese place called the Wang-Lo. I went there fairly often when I worked downtown; apparently it used to be called the Lo-Wang, but got switched around. > > I’m pretty sure it’s a direct phonetic translation of something, but I don’t know what. Wang also isn’t a Vietnamese word. The Vietnamese alphabet, though based on the Latin alphabet, doesn’t have a W. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/13 "2005-09-27T05:38:35Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > That does it-some day I’m opening up a sushi place and naming it “Eat Me Raw”. Well, there’s one in South Lake Tahoe called “Naked Fish”. I like yours better, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/14 "2005-09-27T05:48:26Z")
There is a Thai place near where I used to live called Poo Ping Palace. Needless to say I never ate there. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/15 "2005-09-27T05:58:11Z")
There’s a Chinese place around the corner from my apartment called Wok and Roll. It’s not very good. My favorite Chinese place is Ollie’s. How many Chinese dudes do you know named Ollie? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/16 "2005-09-27T06:12:04Z")
> [@Greg Charles](#): > > Wang also isn’t a Vietnamese word. The Vietnamese alphabet, though based on the Latin alphabet, doesn’t have a W. Yes, but many of the immigrants who come to North America from Vietnam are ethnically Chinese. They might be very good at cooking Vietnamese food, but still name their restuarant in Chinese. They often will serve Chinese food in their Vietnamese restaurant. I don’t think these places are joking. Things like names for a business (and the whole idea of bringing luck upon it to be sucessful) are very superstitious for the Chinese. They would joke around with that. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/17 "2005-09-27T06:13:18Z")
… **woundn’t** joke around like that… ---
**Author:** ![WonJohnSoup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f17d59/32.png) [@WonJohnSoup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WonJohnSoup)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/18 "2005-09-27T07:35:40Z")
There’s a Vietnamese resteraunt in Rosemead, CA called My Dung. It’s a woman’s name, pronounced like “May Yuong.” I can’t find a pic, but I did find this: [![](http://media.urbandictionary.com/image/large/foshizzlemynizzle-7554.jpg) ](http://media.urbandictionary.com/image/large/foshizzlemynizzle-7554.jpg) I’m not sure how this Cantonese romanization came about, but half of those words aren’t pronounced the way you might think. Yeung sounds more like “Yerng” and Hung is pronounced more like “Houong.” It seems pretty standardized, too, so I don’t imagine they picked it for the double entendre. Like, it’s ALWAYS spelled Yeung and Hung. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/19 "2005-09-27T07:44:31Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > My favorite Chinese place is Ollie’s. How many Chinese dudes do you know named Ollie? Ah Lee? Let me be the first, in this thread at least, to mention [Fu King](http://www.yrbmusic.com/images/update070104/fuking.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2005, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618/20 "2005-09-27T07:55:03Z")
And of course there’s [Fook Yue](http://www.humor-day.com/pictureviewer.php?id=1494), which has been circulating on the web for a while. Don’t know if it’s authentic, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-chinese-restaurant-names-jokes/323618.md?page=2)