What animal are you?

Overheard on the bus...

"So what animal are you?"
"I'm a pig."

"Oh! I heard this year not very good for pigs so you must go and pray. Lucky I am snake."

Those uninitiated in the art of pithy Singaporean small talk may be insulted when asked such a question. But this being Singapore, slash Asia, this being the week before the Chinese New Year, most Singaporean-ized eavesdroppers would have been able to follow that the discussion was on Chinese astrology. It's the time of the year when Chinese are interested in knowing what the year holds for them in realtion to their animal signs (or Chinese Zodiac signs, to put it within a Western context).

Year 2001 has been determined as the year of the snake, the golden snake or the yin metal snake to be precise. For more on the Chinese Astrology system, visit this web site.