Random new word of the day

[Lu]

围嘴 wéizuǐ bib (as for babies)

 

In somehow related news, today I learned that Slavic countries have their own version of the 侠客, namely the bogatyr. Seriously, look at that: they are sometimes based on real historical people but often mythical, they sometimes use magic but usually not, and they attach great value to chivalry. None of this helps me translate a loose 侠客 into Dutch, but it's still cool.

[xinoxanu]

脚踏车 jiǎotàchē

 

A rather uncommon word for "bicycle" , never heard it in the Mainland but it seems to be used in Taiwan. Can someone confirm? 

[anonymoose]

1 hour ago, xinoxanu said:

脚踏车 jiǎotàchē

 

A rather uncommon word for "bicycle" , never heard it in the Mainland but it seems to be used in Taiwan. Can someone confirm?

 

This term is used in Shanghainese (but obviously with Shanghainese pronunciation). Though I can't say I've particularly noticed, I wouldn't be surprised if the term is used by Shanghainese people when speaking Mandarin.

[Insectosaurus]

2 hours ago, xinoxanu said:

A rather uncommon word for "bicycle" , never heard it in the Mainland but it seems to be used in Taiwan. Can someone confirm? 

 

That's correct. It's included in the beginner vocab list for the TOCFL.

[Tomsima]

China's a big place, and putonghua is not as standardised as some would like you to believe. When I was down in Guangxi everyone used 單車 for bicycle, 自行車 kind of comes of as a bit 出租車 there (as opposed to the more frequently used 打的/的士)

[Red Color]

4 hours ago, xinoxanu said:

A rather uncommon word for "bicycle" , never heard it in the Mainland but it seems to be used in Taiwan. Can someone confirm? 

https://ohmynews.com.my/article/C1805031224074864/台湾单车步道

It happens ?

[mungouk]

I didn't see this come up yet, surprisingly.

 

病毒检测   bìng dú jiǎn cè — Virus Test.

 

In terms of COVID, it looks like this is being used specifically to refer to an RNA/PCR/swab test, which looks for remnants of the virus, while 抗体检测  kàng tǐ jiǎn cè is the antibody test (blood test).

 

Source: https://chinese.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/testing.html

 

Quote

 

COVID-19有两种检测：病毒检测和抗体检测。
 

病毒检测会告诉您当前是否感染了病毒。
抗体检测会告诉您是否曾经感染过病毒。
 

 

 

[Jan Finster]

蚂蚁   mǎ yǐ    ant

 

This does not sound too amazing, but then I realised the 蚂 character means 3 different animals depending on the tone:

蚂    mā    dragonfly
蚂    mǎ    ant
蚂    mà    grasshopper

 

 Beautiful and horrible at the same time. Who is going to remember this? ?

[889]

Another property market term:

 

凶宅

 

Of course it means something like haunted house, but more particularly refers to properties that sell at a big discount because something inauspicious happened therein, or in the vicinity.

 

Lists are kept.

 

https://www.property.hk/unlucky.php

[Demonic_Duck]

3 hours ago, Jan Finster said:

蚂    mā    dragonfly
蚂    mǎ    ant
蚂    mà    grasshopper

 

Interesting. I knew 蚂蚁 and 蚂蚱, but never clocked that they were the same character. Never heard of 蚂螂 for dragonfly before though, only 蜻蜓.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they have no etymological relationship, just converged on the same character from people needing a "ma" character for something insect-like.

 

3 hours ago, Jan Finster said:

Who is going to remember this?

 

[roddy]

母题， motif

 

Which reminds me of another usage I saw, which I could have sworn I posted on here, but can't find it. 

 

动机 - usually motive, but can also be motif in a musical context. 乐想 is nicer though.

[Jim]

Is that a typo @roddy? Motif, surely.

[roddy]

Yes, typo, thanks. 

[mungouk]

精致露营    jīng zhì lù yíng     glamping

 

via Sinosplice.

[Lu]

寒号鸟 hánhàoniǎo   a certain type of flying squirrel, found in parts of China (Trogopterus xanthipes). So not a 鸟 at all, despite the name.

 

Mostly famous because of a story about such a squirrel. The squirrel plays all day, even when its neighbour the magpie urges it to furnish a warm nest for the winter. Then winter comes and the nights are cold, so that the 寒号鸟 is shivering in its drafty burrow. Now build a nest already, says the magpie the next morning, but by then the sun is up, it's nice and warm out, so the squirrel isn't interested anymore. Until one night it gets so cold that the squirrel freezes in its burrow. So a bit like the cricket and the ant, but with cold instead of hunger.

[roddy]

烂好人 - a goody-goody. 

[roddy]

扇区 - sector, as in on a hard disk.

[mungouk]

40 minutes ago, roddy said:

扇区 - sector, as in on a hard disk

 

Oh, presumably due to the fan-type shape? Nice.

 

 

[roddy]

Yes - completely confused me at first. Also used in polar geography - which if you think about how the poles look from above, and that east and west might not be so handy, makes sense.

 

 

[889]

It's high time we started discussing words you can use in everyday conversation.

 

恋足癖