FINANCIAL REPORT

Attempting to read the market report in the Headline daily, I come across the character circled above.

跌 / dit / fall, slide, stumble

Maxim's Devil Cake

Here's some important characters for the ladies: Maxim's devil cake.

魔鬼 / more gwai / devil

蛋糕 / darn go / cake

HUNGRY GHOST FESTIVAL

Another festival rolls around and I've forgotten the name again. This time it's "Hungry Ghost" festival. What are the traditional Chinese characters and how do you pronounce it?

盂蘭節 / jyu laan zit

I quiz the family but no one is really sure what the history behind the festival is. All I find out is that it's a pretty general festival and that it's a good excuse for the family to get together for a nice meal. I'm wondering if the ghosts are thirsty as well and I help them satisfy their thirst by opening a nice Chilean Carmenere.

NEW CHEIF EXECUTIVE IN MACAU

A new face (to me anyway) was being shown on all the Chinese TV channels this past weekend. It turned out to belong to Macau's new chief executive, Fernando Chui Sai On. It was a bit of a one horse race (he was the only candidate) but the good news is that he has a kind face (according to my wife who is an amateur face reader)

So what are the traditional Chinese characters for and how to pronounce Mr Chui's name in Cantonese?

崔世安 / Chui Sai On

VIRGIN ATLANTIC / 維珍航空

I see Virgin Atlantic are celebrating their 25th anniversary by offering pretty good deals to Sydney. What are the traditional Chinese characters for and how to pronounce Virgin Airlines in Cantonese?

維珍航空 / why zhen hong hung

It looks like they wisely used a sound loan from Chinese characters instead of a literal translation!

ST PAUL STOPS CLASSES

Todays Headline Daily front page story;

中四女生確診 聖保祿停課

What's it all mean? Lets see.

中四女生 / jung say noy saang / form 4 female student

確診 / kok chan / to make a definite diagnosis of

聖保祿 / sing bow luk / St Pauls

停課 / teng for / stop classes

So it looks like they've confirmed an outbreak of swine flu over at St Pauls girl school in Causeway Bay and that they've suspended classes for 14 days.

ACID BOMB

Some psycho thew another bottle of corrosive acid into a crowd of people in Mongkok a few days ago. So, what are the traditional Chinese characters and Cantonese pronunciation for acid bomb?

漒彈 / keung darn / acid bomb

I know the character above is not an exact match to the picture but I'm struggling to find the more complex character - bear with me.