The Tse Family Numbering System

The Tse Family has our own numbering system.

The System

My father has nine brothers and sisters. Including himself, that makes up 10.

The eldest in the line is my Aunt (姑媽 or "Goo Ma"), and the siblings call her "Gar Jei" (家姐 or "big sister"). Goo Ma moved to Australia since she's married, and I have only seen her twice, one at Uncles 2 and 4's wedding, and the second time was at Uncle 5's wedding. Goo Ma is not a frequently show up character in the family. One time she called my house from Australia and my dad picked up the call. Goo Ma said, "Kwok Sui (國穗, my father's name)? It's Gar Jei." Then my dad replied, "Gar Jei? What Gar Jei?" He had seemingly forgotten that he had a bigger sister.

Next is my dad. The younger brothers and sisters called him "Lo Da" or "Da Gor" (老大 and 大哥 respectively, meaning the eldest brother), and the nieces and nephews called him "Da Bor" or "Da Kor Kor" (大伯 and 大舅舅 respectively).

Then, it came Uncles 2, 3, 4 and 5.

After having five sons in a row, Grandma wanted a girl and her dream soon became true. We then have Aunts 7, 8 and 9. The last sibling is a brother, our Uncle 10.

Quiz 4
Comparing to the "conventional" numbering system, why is the Tse Family Numbering System so special?
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Yes, number 6 is missing. (The answer is already included in the previous comments so I reveal it right away.)

But you are only partly right. According to my sis, there are at least two more differentiations. She said, for other kids, they count "1, 2, 3, ..., 10". But for the Tse Family kids, we count "zero (for Goo Ma), 'da' (大, or big, or the eldest, for my dad), 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10"!

The Hypothesis

Consultant of The Facts and the Myths of the Tse Family (i.e. my mom) tried to hypothesize the Tse Family Numbering System. She said the System was actually invented and first used by those who worked and knew my dad (i.e. outside the family). Cause they knew my dad is the eldest son in the family, they called him "lo da" (老大, or the big brother). Later on, they knew our Uncles 2 -5 from work as well, so the numbering continued. It was only later that we also adopted the numbering system to the family.

It sounds quite reasonable, and matches some of my fading childhood memory. However, when I "cornered" the Consultant and asked "then why Aunt 7 isn't Aunt 6 or Aunt 2 (with the boys and girls in different lines)? She also worked at dad's factory.", she got stuck.

So the Tse Family Number System remains a mystery.

The Fall

The Tse Family Numbering System had tried to survive another generation but failed. The reason behind is quite obvious as we are scattered in different places at different times. We can't even figure out who's who sometimes, not to mention our birth dates.

The only one in my generation who carries a "number" is probably me. Like my father, others in the line called me "Da Kar Jie" (大家姐, or the eldest sister, used by my brother, sister and cousins of the Uncles) or "Da Biao Jie" (大表姐, or the eldest girl cousin, used by cousins of the Aunts). Also like my father, strictly speaking, I am not the eldest in the generation. There are 19 of us and I am only the third in the generation, with children of Goo Ma both older than me :)

So, this is a very unique characteristic of our family.

P.S. One of my former colleague was "college-mate" of my sis, same faculty, same department, same programme, same class. The fact was quite well-known in the office. One time, another colleague asked how many sisters I had. I said, without much thinking, "one, with the same parents."

I fell the silence in the air.

Then I added, "the others are 'tong sai mui' (堂細妹, younger female cousins of the uncles)". I thought I heard a deep breath.

For me, as they all call me "Da Kar Jie" since they know how to speak, it comes quite natural to me that they are all my younger sisters and brothers rather than cousins!