'Coffee colostomy bag' and 5 other times Westerners made us go 'huh?'

Next time you ta-bao your kopi-peng back to the office in a bag, see if any tourists nearby give you a second look.

Apparently, coffee in a plastic bag is weird as hell to foreigners who have always drunk liquids from sturdier vessels. 

'Huh? Since when is it weird?'

My reaction exactly, since it's such a common sight we've all grown up with that it's never occurred to us to question it.

Well according to the wonderful people over at Reddit, the take-away bags our favourite beverage comes in looks like a colostomy bag.

Get this: A colostomy is a surgical procedure where surgeons divert one end of the large intestine into an opening. The colostomy bag is then placed over that opening to collect waste that would normally be passed in the toilet.

So basically, they just compared our take-away plastic bags to one that collects excrement.

What utter blasphemy.

But this isn't the first time Westerners have stumbled upon our "eccentric" Asian ways.

Here are some other instances that made us question if Westerners know that there are other cultures outside their own.

1. When Buzzfeed dissed our beloved ice cream sandwich

Last year, Singaporeans were up in arms about a post by Buzzfeed that dissed the iconic pastel ice-cream sandwich we all grew up loving.

In his article, Buzzfeed's senior editor Luke Bailey lambasted our humble childhood snack which caused a massive uproar with Asians who defended the colourful dessert. The controversy resulted in a retraction and his demotion.

Hopefully, they've learnt their lesson that you do not mess with our food. Period.

2. When TimeOut London popped Xiaolongbaos like pimples

Remember when TimeOut London drew flak from Asians around the world for comparing our revered dim-sum dish to pus-filled pimples?

Well, we do. And they even proceeded to eat it incorrectly by bursting it like Dr. Pimple Popper.

Here, read our nicely penned letter to them where we educate them on the proper ways to consume Xiaolongbaos.

3. When INSIDER got all excited over conveyor belt sushi

Earlier this year, INSIDER discovered the wonderful invention known as conveyor belt sushi served in NYC's Yo! Sushi restaurant.

[embed]https://twitter.com/thisisinsider/status/841754586268356609[/embed]

Except that we've had this in our local Japanese restaurants since forever.

4. When people were outraged at how MIC compared the smell of durian to feet

MIC probably wanted to be helpful by introducing some of the lesser known facts about the King of fruits.

"Did you know that durians are rich in iron, copper, potassium and vitamins C and B?"

That's very nice and all, but excuse me, what kind of feet have you been smelling?!

5. When the US introduced McDelivery as a newfangled idea

I'll just voice the question we all want to ask.

"You mean you don't have McDelivery until now?" 

So there you have it, a collection of incidents that left us scratching our heads or rolling our eyes. Perhaps what this shows is that people just need to get out more.

ljoey@sph.com.sg