Talk:hạnh

Kumquat
I think this is from an intentional avoidance of the inauspicious, which is homophonous with “be stuck; be obstructed”, specifically using the word “auspicious; blessed” as a substitute. A motivation for this change may have been the fact that kumquats are often grown and consumed during the Vietnamese New Year, a time when anything (word, behaviour) considered inauspicious is to be avoided. As a parallel, the almonds and tangerines are commonly consumed foods during the Chinese New Year for the same “auspicious” reason: hạnh nhân for hạnh phúc, and cát ~ kiết ~ kết ~ quất (桔) for cát tường (吉祥) (pp. 96). Wyang (talk) 05:12, 1 March 2018 (UTC)