Funny Nonsense

我参加的一个freelance medical writer 的信箱里，今天有人问一个没见过的怪词 "fuable"，Original citation from an 1872 engineering manual! 没人知道是什么意思，字典里也没有。有人回答：

"Fuable" means "capable of being destroyed by kung fu." During the British occupation of Shanghai, Chinese laborers at coal-processing plants would show off their martial prowess to one another by smashing chunks of coke with their bare hands, thereby leaving bits of coke residue all over the coke yard. This practice naturally infuriated the British coke-plant owners, and the resulting employer/employee conflicts eventually led to the Boxer Rebellion.