Some streetgoers gawked as if watching an impromptu street play while others grabbed the hands of children and hustled away.

Because his utterances detour through his brain - rather than, as in duckspeak, coming straight from the well-programmed larynx - he has Socratic doubts...

Such a welter of languages! Spellings and pronunciations are anybody's fair game. There are so many right ways in Taiwan that any one them is the wrong way to millions. Each city and town has a Mandarin name, a Taiwanese name, an old Japanese name and, in the mountains, an aborigine name. In the Miaoli area, a Hakka name as well. This makes letter writing or travel a fascinating sport. Even the name of the island is vastly under dispute. You can whip up a bloody battle by calling it Formosa. Protagonists for Taiwan of Free China see red.

I love that song: turn back to it!