你认识这个籴字吗？ Do you know this word: 籴？

这是籴米的籴字，发音 di， 粤音与“笛”同。哦，一讲“笛米”，大家都听过，买米也。不过在我平常交往的文盲圈子里，大部分人已经不再认识这个在传统中国人生活中很重要的一个字。

小时候的香港人，都说籴米，随着“米铺” 式微，大家由籴米变了去超市“买米”，正在瘦身的人，还当米是毒药，谈米色变，籴字才逐渐从我们日常的语言中消失。一向以为“籴米”是市井俚语，原来十分文雅。负责漕运物流的官员，写奏章比皇帝，讲到积谷存米时，也用籴字。卖出的时候，是粜米。音tiao。粤音与“挑”同。粜字少用，因为大家都只有买米，很少卖也。

小时候跟妈妈籴米，米铺一桶桶等同小孩身高的香米，上插标签注明品种价钱。妈妈有时会挑两三品种，凭经验混合煮食。米铺会把客人指定的比例混好后，才用麻包袋由送货苦力托上肩头运送，到家之后，倒入米缸，香气扑鼻。那时候家家有米缸，除了养老鼠之外，还可以把青绿酸涩的芒果慢慢 “沤熟”。记得吗？

I bet they don’t teach you this word in Chinese classes: 籴 (di) means specifically “buy rice”, a very important word in traditional Chinese life. It was in common colloquial use in Hong Kong before rice shops were replaced by supermarkets, and people on a low carb diet regard most staples poisonous.

When I was a kid, we used to buy rice (籴米) from neighbourhood rice shops (米铺: mi pu) with big wooden barrels filled to the rim with various fragrant grains. Mum would grab a handful, sniff it, and let it sieve through her fingers. She might then order different types of rice blended for better texture and taste. A coolie would then deliver it in big jute bags, carried on shoulder. At home, the jute bag would be emptied into a rice bin (米缸: mi gang). Every Cantonese household had a rice bin. Besides smelling great, they were excellent incubators for unripe mangoes bought at a discount. 

I though 籴 was a market slang. In fact, it was also a formal word used by court officials in reporting the movement of rice to the emperor. The reverse flow - the selling of rice - is 粜 (tiao)米, a much less common term to the average person.

A big rice shop on the right (circa 1960's)

A modern day rice shop - shrunken and rare
(still surviving, I think)

Note: I didn't take these photos. Just grabbed them from an old photo junk mail for illustration.