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A blog by jbradfor in General

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谚语: There's a word for it

jbradfor

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I‘ve been vaguely aware that I misuse the term "成语" a bit. It seems that for many, a 成语 refers only to a classically derived, 4 or 8 character, saying. So other "fixed phrases" are not, strictly speaking, a "成语".

Someone was explaining "跳跳槽槽" (meaning "to change jobs frequently") to me, and was looking for the right (English) word to describe the part of speech it was. I suggested 成语. Although he was a tad impressed that I knew that word (ah, the joys of low expectations....), he didn't think it was right, and said 谚语 was better.

MDBG defines a 谚语 as "proverb". Which doesn't seem quite right. "跳跳槽槽", to me, is not really a "proverb". So "set expression" might be a better translation, or "common phrase".

But at least now I have another word I can use to describe Chinese.

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4 Comments

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skylee

skylee 1913

Posted

How about 俗語?

The term 跳槽 is very common. But I have not encountered the use of 跳跳槽槽. Perhaps it is only used on the Mainland? But I can imagine the use of 跳跳槽, same pattern such as 跳跳舞, 吃吃飯 etc.

xiaocai

xiaocai 235

Posted

I don't think it is used in Mainland either.

jbradfor

jbradfor 681

Posted

Humm, interesting. The person that told me about 跳跳槽槽 is from Beijing. Wonder if it's just used by him and his friends :P He did say it was a pretty new term.

俗語 is another good one. skylee, how would you distinguish between a 俗語 and a 谚 语?

Kenny同志

Kenny同志 616

Posted

First time I've heard this term (跳跳槽槽)which I don't think is grammatical. BTW, 跳槽 might be better described as to “hop” from a company to another.

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