Tomato番茄(fān qié) = 西红柿(xī hóng shì)

Hey guys, I am Cici, an online Chinese teacher. One student of mine once told me a joke which is an awkward experience of himself in China.

Once he went out to eat and managed to order a scrambled egg with tomato 番茄炒蛋(fān qié chǎo dàn) but the waiter told him they were out of tomato番茄(fān qié). He, without knowing what 番茄(fān qié) is, said, “没问题，你就做一个不放番茄的西红柿炒蛋好不好？(That’s alright. How about you make a scrambled egg with tomato without tomato in it)?”

He shall never forget this silly question he asked which amused me so hard in our online Chinese class. But more importantly, it is necessary for language learners to pay attention to things which owns more than one names. Tomato has two names: 番茄(fān qié) and 西红柿(xī hóng shì). What’s else, potato in Chinese could be 土豆(tǔ dòu)，马铃薯(mǎ líng shǔ) and 洋芋(yáng yù).