muyongshi Posted February 7, 2008 at 06:23 AM Report Posted February 7, 2008 at 06:23 AM I had seriously considered putting an explanation on that one and it looks like I needed too... (no it came from a TV show where the guy just started popping the medicine in hopes of getting better faster...) Quote
rob07 Posted February 20, 2008 at 11:56 PM Report Posted February 20, 2008 at 11:56 PM 龃龉 (ju3yu3) from my holiday book, 长恨歌 by 王安亿, which I have just finished on the plane back this morning. Literally, it refers to the upper and lower teeth not meeting properly, but is used to mean disagreement/discord. In the book it is used to refer to boyfriend/girlfriend issues. However, it stuck in my mind particularly because this holiday I was supposed to be climbing Mt Aconcagua which is the highest mountain in the world outside the Himalayas at just under 7,000 metres. Altitude sickness can be a real, potentially fatal, problem, so they maintain a doctors tent at base camp that imposes mandatory medical checkups and an emergency helicopter that regulary flies people with serious altitude sickness out. Based on some previous experience with altitude, I thought I would be OK as far as altitude sickness went, and indeed showed no signs of it. What I didn't know was that, apparently, if there is anything slightly dodgy about your teeth, the lack of oxygen in the air will just blow it up for some reason. My upper and lower teeth - guess what - don't meet properly, and I ended up having to hitch a ride out of the park on the helicopter to get emergency root canal surgery (there are some gory details below). I was lucky to get on the helicopter because people with altitude sickness have priority and the helicopter was originally full. The alternative was an eight hour trek by myself from base camp out of the park on very strong painkillers, antibiotics and some other mystery drugs the nice doctors had given me. Having taken the helicopter to the flyspeck village at the edge of the park, arriving at about 8.30am, I was told that I could not be transferred to the nearest city until the evening of the following day, because it was the height of the tourist season and all the hotel rooms in the city were booked out. Instead they took me to the army base where some soldier injected my bum full of more painkiller, but at least I had a real bed to spend the rest of the day in. The next day I made it to the dentist and experienced the high point of my trip - feeling the pressure in my jaw release as I watched, in a mirror held by the dentist, bits of my poor nerve mixed with blood and pus bubble out of the hole he had just drilled in my tooth. That wasn't quite the end of it though because infection had spread deep down into my lower mouth, so I spent a few more days on antibiotics. The dentist confirmed that the problem was related to the fact that I had 龃龉, which in turn had caused some 龃龉 between myself and the mountain. He also criticised my home dentist for not having giving me a root canal when I previously had pain in the tooth, while charging me about 15% of what my home dentist would have charged for the work. I thought that I would then at least have a couple of days in bed with 长恨歌 in the supposedly four star hotel I had been booked into. However, the hotel turned out to constructing an extension to itself that was larger than the original hotel. It was difficult to decide what was worse; the noise, or the way the floor of my room shook like a jumping castle. Sorry this has been such a rant but thanks to anyone who reads this far. Quote
heifeng Posted February 21, 2008 at 04:31 AM Report Posted February 21, 2008 at 04:31 AM love the rant! now we will all remember how to say this type of misalignment in both senses of the word heheh. That is indeed an interesting fact about high altitudes...I would've just thought there would be some painful pressure (or would that be pressure-drop/vacuum type effect...hmm..i dunno) in sinuses but nothing like that! Hope you're feeling betta! Quote
skylee Posted February 21, 2008 at 05:05 AM Report Posted February 21, 2008 at 05:05 AM I remember reading on Thorntree of Lonely Planet that it is not uncommon for people arriving in high altitude places (Tibet etc) to have unexpected dental problems, such as filling in a tooth falling off due to low pressure etc. And thanks for the story. Quote
Lu Posted February 21, 2008 at 07:39 AM Report Posted February 21, 2008 at 07:39 AM The combination Himalayas + Chinese forums + random word in Chinese made me picture this whole story in Tibet, but then I realized it's not in the Himalayas and indeed, Mt Aconcagua is in Bolivia. Anyway, great rant. Word: 聯袂 lian2mei4 come/go/travel/etc hand in hand, together. From an article on (the lack of) tourism to Taiwan, about the couple that invented Lonely Planet. Quote
rob07 Posted February 21, 2008 at 08:34 PM Report Posted February 21, 2008 at 08:34 PM Thanks for the support all. I am used to the Chinese language making me feel like I am mentally defective, but encountering that word for the first time on the plane home means that the language has got bored with limiting itself to that and is now also laughing at my physical shortcomings. Anyway, there is a lot of interesting vocab in 长恨歌, most of which I have already forgotten, but for today, one I remember is 谶语 (chen4yu3) which means a prophecy believed to have been fulfilled, because I like those sorts of words. I am taking today off work and am looking forward to going shopping for some more books. Maybe I will even look into signing up to some sort of course to learn how to speak a little Chinese, just so the Chinese language can have a really good laugh at me. Quote
Lu Posted February 22, 2008 at 06:46 AM Report Posted February 22, 2008 at 06:46 AM ?? You can read Chang hen ge but not speak Chinese? That is very odd and impressive at the same time. Well, when you get around to learning how to speak your progress should be really fast. Can't type Chinese here, so will fill in the characters later: 佃戶 dian4hu4 tenant, of land. From Huozhe, one of those words that I could guess right away but didn't know how to pronounce. Quote
muyongshi Posted February 22, 2008 at 07:42 AM Report Posted February 22, 2008 at 07:42 AM so will fill in the characters later:dian4hu4 tenant, of land I can help! 佃户 Quote
YangDizi Posted February 28, 2008 at 01:19 PM Report Posted February 28, 2008 at 01:19 PM [POP=qǐhuīqì]启辉器／啓煇器[/POP]: "starter" for a [POP=荧光灯／熒光燈 (yíngguāngdēng) or 日光灯／日光燈 (rìguāngdēng)]fluorescent light[/POP]. From: life. For those who want to increase their vocubulary in this sphere, there is an entire website dedicated to the object: http://www.chinastarter.cn/. Enjoy! Quote
muyongshi Posted February 28, 2008 at 01:32 PM Report Posted February 28, 2008 at 01:32 PM 囫囵 meaning whole hú lún So 囫囵吞下 means to swallow it whole Quote
imron Posted February 28, 2008 at 01:39 PM Report Posted February 28, 2008 at 01:39 PM 启辉器／啓煇器: "starter" for a fluorescent light.See also post #140 Quote
roddy Posted February 28, 2008 at 01:44 PM Author Report Posted February 28, 2008 at 01:44 PM 衎, kàn, which if I remember correctly is an old word for joyfully or similar. Cropped up in someone's name today. Quote
YangDizi Posted February 28, 2008 at 02:00 PM Report Posted February 28, 2008 at 02:00 PM (See http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=142632#post142632). 引用:启辉器／啓煇器: "starter" for a fluorescent light. See also post #140 .Thanks, imron. It is always good to expand one's technical vocab (in any language - I didn't even know these terms in English, my [POP=mǔyǔ: mother tongue]母语／母語[/POP]!). To clarify, [POP=zhēnliúqì]镇流器／鎮流器[/POP] is the electronic balast (magentic coil to adjust current) used in a fluorescent lamp and the [POP=qǐhuīqì]启辉器／啓煇器[/POP] is the starter (which serves as a switch for the circuit). Anyone who's interested can check out How Stuff Works. Quote
heifeng Posted February 29, 2008 at 05:08 AM Report Posted February 29, 2008 at 05:08 AM ok, so I've selected some random words from my random word stash for the week curtesy PCS preparation. Here are the winners: 潄口 shu4kou3: gargle...yeah now I actually know what character this is....know i've heard it said before 涎水 xian2shui3: saliva ...ok supposedly this is fangyan..so why do i need to know it..grr 囟门 xin4men2: fontanel, i.e the part of a baby's skull that is soft and then hardens....flash back to high school biology tbc Quote
roddy Posted March 2, 2008 at 09:17 AM Author Report Posted March 2, 2008 at 09:17 AM 富营养化 fùyíngyǎnghuà, eutrophication. Basically excessive nutrition in a lake, leading to algal blooms, etc Quote
Lu Posted March 2, 2008 at 10:00 AM Report Posted March 2, 2008 at 10:00 AM 池府千歲 chi2fu2 qian1sui1 In the end I translated this as 'Prince Chi' (actually, since this is Taiwan I wrote 'Prince Chih'). After googling for a while I decided to just take the shortcut and ask my colleague. He then googled for a while, and we puzzled the story together: The Jade Emperor once sent twelve 王爺 down to the world. Five of them are most famous, including one surnamed 池. The king is addressed as 萬歲, and so 千歲 is a prince. There was some debate as to whether that would be the brothers of the king/emperor or the sons of the king/emperor, but since it was for an English translation we didn't need to worry about that. Then the question arose whether 池府 means '(from) the house of Chi' and you would address the man like that, or 'temple for Prince Chi' (but then why would you put a title (千歲) behind it). My colleague thinks it's the latter, but also said he didn't really know. Apparently the Taoists have some 1200 gods, so it's not so strange that people get confused. Next time I see someone burn ghost money I should ask them who they burn it for. I expect more confusion, both on their part and mine. Quote
SWWLiu Posted March 5, 2008 at 04:50 AM Report Posted March 5, 2008 at 04:50 AM I started late on these fine threads and I'm trying gamely to catch up ... Please bear with me, because for many of you it will be a review ... Here come my comments: #21 -- 得主 dézhǔ - winner or recipient' date=' ie 诺贝尔和平奖得主. I'm not sure if I've just never heard that before or just wasn't paying attention in the past, seems like it can't be that rare a word. [/quote'] In addition, we have 诺贝尔奖得主 Nobel Laureate. #51 Another one I came across the other day and remembered just now while eating peanuts: 齁 - to suffer a sore throat due to eating excessively salty or sugar foodstuffs. Would you like to double check the meaning of 齁齁 hou1hou1? #74 -- Anyway' date=' my words from that book are are 多头, duo1tou2, take a long position (ie: buy the bonds) and 空头, kong1tou2, sell short. They are in my dictionary, but there may be more modern words now for 多头, while these days the concept described by 空头 has probably disappeared from the Chinese language altogether. Another word I really like is 无形 wu2xing2 - nothing shaped, or invisible. [/quote'] How about 空頭支票 overdrawn check? This 空頭 should still be in use. #102 -- 擤鼻子xing3bi2zi1 blow one's nose... Not bi2zi3? #113 -- 血腥: xue4xing1 very bloody/violent for example: 驻伊美军遭遇最血腥的一年 Do you always say 血腥: xue4xing1? (I usually lean towards 血腥: xue3xing1.) #122 -- 逮捕 dai4bu3 arrest How about 逮 dai3? So' date=' wouldn't you agree that we then have 逮捕 dai2bu3 arrest (with the subsequent tone change dai3 --> dai2)? #123 -- First was one that I learned but have never used and ran across it again today: 酌量 zhóuliàng to consider or deliberate 酌量 zhuo2liang4 (more like) to measure, to weigh 斟酌 zhen1zhuo2 (figuratively) to consider, to deliberate #124 -- 猫王mao1wang4 elvis 血友病 xue4you3bing4 hemophilia 猫王mao1wang2 Elvis : ) Similarly' date=' either 血友病 xue4you3bing4 hemophilia, as you have it, or 血友病 xue2you3bing4 hemophilia (after subsequent tone change) #128 -- 清算 qing1suan4 inventory In "Pre-Liberalization" China (and during the Cultural Revolution), 清算 qing1suan4 was a public "accounting", accusation, and extreme humiliation, etc. (much more severe than a mere "inventory") #142 -- 作茧自缚 You make your own cocoon....basically you if you dig a pit you will fall into it. You will reap the consequences of your own actions... 作繭自縛 zuo4jian3zi4fu2 (for the traditional script version) #152 -- 见分晓 - jiànfēnxiǎo' date=' to become clear, of results in a game, election, etc. From the BBC's Chinareel. [/quote'] 見分曉 jian4fen1xiao3 (for the traditional script version) #172 -- 襟兄 jin1xiong1' date=' brothers-in-law, whose wives are sisters [/quote'] I think that the older and more established term 聯襟 lian2jin4 is still very much in use. I use it myself. #173 -- 辞呈 cíchéng' date=' written resignation, from a bit about Italy's recent 信任表决 - xìnrènbiǎojué or vote of (no confidence) in . . . whoever it was. I had to a double-listen on this one as they said something like 因未通过信任表决提出辞职， but I heard it as 因为, which didn't make sense, even in Italian politics. Also 关门大吉 guānméndàjí, which the ABC just has as 'to close down for good', but the Guifan specifies it is a 戏称, which makes more sense. [/quote'] At a Chinese restaurant near "closing time" for the day, if you ask them whether they would close soon, use 快打烊了嗎？ kuai4 da3 yang2 le4 ma1?. Don't ever use 快關門了嗎？ kuai4 guan1 men2 le4 ma1? (The latter is associated with 关门大吉 guānméndàjí. Saying it to the restaurant manager is believed to bring bad luck. They will resent it.) #177 -- 袖珍人xiu4zhen1ren2: a little person Does it mean "a petite person"? A dwarf? #182 -- 龃龉 (ju3yu3) from my holiday book' date=' 长恨歌 by 王安亿, which I have just finished on the plane back this morning. Literally, it refers to the upper and lower teeth not meeting properly, but is used to mean disagreement/discord. In the book it is used to refer to boyfriend/girlfriend issues. However, it stuck in my mind particularly because ... I was supposed to be climbing Mt Aconcagua ... at just under 7,000 metres, [but'] ended up [being airlifted by] helicopter to get emergency root canal surgery ... . [Apparently my abcessed tooth was aggravated by the extreme low pressure at high attitudes so that] my upper and lower teeth ... didn't meet properly ... . The next day ... the dentist ... confirmed that the problem was related to the fact that I had 龃龉, which in turn had caused some 龃龉 between myself and the mountain. If you say 龃龉 (ju3yu3) out loud, you will find that you will automatically adjust it to 龃龉 (ju2yu3). #185 -- Word: 聯袂 lian2mei4 come/go/travel/etc hand in hand' date=' together. [/quote'] 連袂 lian2mei4 #190 -- 囫囵 meaning whole hú lún So 囫囵吞下 means to swallow it whole 囫囵吞下 means to swallow it whole 囫圇吞下 hu2lun2tun1xia4 (in traditional script) #194 -- 涎水 xian2shui3: saliva ...ok supposedly this is fangyan..so why do i need to know it..grr 囟门 xin4men2: fontanel' date=' i.e the part of a baby's skull that is soft and then hardens....flash back to high school biology [/quote'] Don't you use 口水 kou3shui3: saliva --> kou2shui3 ? (with tone change) #196 -- 池府千歲 chi2fu2 qian1sui1 In the end I translated this as 'Prince Chi' (actually' date=' since this is Taiwan I wrote 'Prince Chih'). [/quote'] Why not chi2fu3qian1sui4 ? Quote
heifeng Posted March 5, 2008 at 05:19 AM Report Posted March 5, 2008 at 05:19 AM yeah, another random word enthusiast...lemme see... 袖珍人xiu4zhen1ren2: a little person, aka, a nice way to say a dwarf... on the subject of tones...yeah, my apologies in that I should be more careful when I type in tone, but I don't think we technically need to type the tone change. However, maybe qingsheng should be included. For example, Not bi2zi3? should really be 2nd and then qingsheng, right? 血 always messes me up..here's a question, how do you generally pronounce血in 有血有肉...I've looked it up and got different answers depending on the book...I'm avoiding anything with that character in the future:mrgreen: 涎水, 襟兄, and some other odd words are just what I've run into while studying for an exam...I don't actually say them in my day to day life:wink: Quote
roddy Posted March 5, 2008 at 05:24 AM Author Report Posted March 5, 2008 at 05:24 AM xuè, in yǒuxuèyǒuròu, according to my book, but I suspect you are looking at the same book Also, maybe not an authoritative source, but if you type youxieyourou into sougou's IME you don't get the right phrase. You do for youxieyourou. Quote
Lu Posted March 5, 2008 at 06:52 AM Report Posted March 5, 2008 at 06:52 AM Why not chi2fu3 qian1sui4 Because I have bad tones :-) You're correct, of course. Same for 逮捕, but I usually don't write the tone change. If I write dai3bu3 others can figure out for themselves that it should be pronounced with 2-3, and they then also know that 逮 is actually 3rd tone.So Swwliu, what's your word of the day? Quote
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