FUNKY WONTONS

I got bored waiting for a friend to pay for her stuff at Bugis Junction so I started reading the reviews a certain food stall had pasted all around its counter and I guffawed.

“Funky wontons”?! I don’t know how you use the word "funky", but I only always use it to refer to stuff which smells bad – like funky cheese and funky smelling basements. I can still remember a basement I went into in Germany... my friend’s host mum hangs their laundry to dry in the basement which had no windows except a door which she shuts once she hangs all the clothes so there was no ventilation at all! The clothes and the basement smelled very damp, mouldy and sour!! Now, that is funky!

The OED and dictionary.com agrees with me (YAY! GO ME!) although the longman has a definition which agrees with the food critic.

OED:

1. Mouldy, old, musty; smelling strong or bad. Now U.S. dial.

2. Of jazz or similar music: down-to-earth and uncomplicated; emotional; having the qualities of the blues. Also in extended use: ‘in’, ‘swinging’, fashionable. slang (orig. U.S.).

And something different which I haven’t seen/heard before

3. In a state of ‘funk’, frightened, nervous, timid.

Dictionary.com

1. overcome with great fear; terrified.

2. Having a moldy or musty smell: funky cheese; funky cellars.

3. Having a strong, offensive, unwashed odor.

4. Of or relating to music that has an earthy quality reminiscent of the blues.

5. Combining elements of jazz, blues, and soul and characterized by syncopated rhythm and a heavy, repetitive bass line.

6. Characterized by originality and modishness; unconventional: "a bizarre, funky [hotel ] dressed up as a ship, with mock portholes and mirrored ceilings over the beds" (Ann Louise Bardach).

7. Outlandishly vulgar or eccentric in a humorous or tongue-in-cheek manner; campy: "funky caricatures of sexpot glamour" (Pauline Kael).

Longman

1. modern, fashionable, and interesting:

Add a touch of style with these functional yet funky wall lights.

2. APM funky music is simple with a strong rhythm that is easy to dance to

3. American English having a bad smell or a dirty appearance

Although I know the food critic probably meant to describe the new “hip” and “trendy” innovative flavours of the wontons at that stall (see longman point 1), she should have probably considered the more conventional alternate meaning of “funky”. But maybe “funky” isn’t lexically primed that way for her as it is for me. Or it could have been a subtle but cruel joke to show she doesn’t like the food. Hahahahahahaha

If you read further down, you see the food critic describing the Shanghai greens as “meaty orbs boosted with the robust crunch of chopped chives and cabbage” – isn’t this such a funky sounding sentence?! hahahahaha I couldn’t help myself from making the pun! “Robust crunch” as a collocation sounds really weird. But so is that sentence in general.

I know i’m never eating there.