Random new word of the day

[trien27]

火山矽肺症 pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Okay, okay. Now could you please tell me how to pronounce this? Of course, i'm referring to the word in English

That's not an English word, per se. It's a big word composed of tiny Greek & Latin words. Pneumo should be "pnevmo", 肺 = lung, "nehv-mOH", where the p is silent in English, but pronounced in Greek. "no" is like a word connector. Ultra = to an extreme degree in Latin, micro from mikron = small, scopic from skopikos = related to how things are seen. silico = silicon, 矽, volcano, 火山 = a mountainous like area which lava & magma flows out of. conio = cone-shaped. -sis = state or condition of a disease, translated as 症, meaning "disease" in Chinese. So the ultramicroscopic & conio does get translated into Chinese? How unfair?

It means "Extremely small look into cone shaped silicon, volcanic disease"??!!

Pronounced "p-nev-MOH, ool-trah-MEE-kroh-sko-pik-si-li-ko-vol-kah-NOH-*-SEEs".

* sounds like the Spanish curse word, which is similarly spelled.

[chrix]

Of course it's an English word, and why wouldn't it be.

By the way, just to be picky:

- there's no "word connector" NO in Ancient Greek. The Ancient Greek for "lung" is πνεύμων "pneumon", so you the N right there at the end. Sometimes people have called the "O" ending a "composition case"

- "eu" was pronounced like a diphthong in Ancient Greek, the "ev" thing is how it's pronounced in Modern Greek. Please don't confuse the two, it's like explaining Classical Chinese with Modern Mandarin features.

- scopic is most likely from a verb skopein, "to examine"

- I'm pretty sure there is no noun like "sis" in Ancient Greek.

Also, ultra does NOT mean "to an extreme degree" in Latin! It just means "beyond"

[imron]

参议院 - Senate

[skylee]

The senates of the universities in Hong Kong are called 教務會 or 教務議會 or 教務委員會.

[heifeng]

牙石,yáshí: tartar/calculus

牙垢yágòu: dental plaque

talking to self sequence: "hmm It acutally makes sense from the Chinese how the 牙石 is basically the hardened plaque that brushing can't generally get rid off...hmm..interesting. In any case I know I've seen 牙垢 in toothpaste adds, so that made sense, but I guess now I know what that harder to get rid of stuff is called ~:clap"

more dental fun here

[trien27]

旖旎, yi3 ni3, means "charming".

Source: http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E6%97%96%E6%97%8E/1318043

I learned the last character doubled as 旎旎, ni3 ni3, from someone's profile on a Chinese dating site.

[renzhe]

位 = bit (binary digit)

As in 64位 = 64-bit

Also, 二百五 = 傻瓜. Saw it in 潜伏. A synonym is 十三点.

Edited January 6, 2010 at 02:29 PM by renzhe

[msittig]

人有三急 · [rén yǒu sān jí]

This phrase came up in a discussion on a Shanghai subway-related BBS of an old man who found the porta-potties locked and proceeded to pee off to the side on the platform. From what I gather it means something like "When you gotta go, you gotta go," because it's most often used in the context of going to the bathroom. As to what the 三急 are specifically, I'm not sure. Even Baidu-pedia gives several possible alternatives.

[Lu]

捏 nie1 to hold (of hands)

Came up so often in 家 that eventually I looked it up.

In the same category:

蔑視 mie4shi4 to ignore.

[msittig]

Why am I more familiar with 捏 as "pinch" than "hold (hands)"?

[Lu]

Because you haven't read 家 :-p

It means 'pinch' too, that's probably closer to the meaning.

[chrix]

I think you are both right It's true that the primary meaning of 捏 is "pinch", but according to the MOE dictionary there is a secondary meaning "hold, grasp": Example from a Yuan dynasty text:

俺捏住這玉佩，慢慢的行將去。

I just got my copy of 家, so I'll look out for this meaning

[LFCLOUDS]

人有三急 · [rén yǒu sān jí]

This phrase came up in a discussion on a Shanghai subway-related BBS of an old man who found the porta-potties locked and proceeded to pee off to the side on the platform. From what I gather it means something like "When you gotta go' date=' you gotta go," because it's most often used in the context of going to the bathroom. As to what the 三急 are specifically, I'm not sure. Even Baidu-pedia gives several possible alternatives. [/quote']

Basically:

There are three things that people must do in a rush....

One is peeing.

Anyone care to speculate on the other two??

[chrix]

LFCLOUDS, have you read the link posted by msittig?

[LFCLOUDS]

Haha, I just did. Thank you.

So the phrase originates in Confucius's time.

With the three 急's in this case meaning a "sickness"

急1 - arrogance

急2 - being too timid/withdrawn

急3 - foolishness

....as for modern interpretations .....well, just as with English phrases originating long ago: I have a tendency to agree with all versions

[chrix]

鳳仙 - impatiens

[msittig]

枪决 [qiāngjué]

Meaning to execute by firing squad. Or by a single bullet to the back of the head. In any case, I like this word; it sounds very… expedient.

(Brought to you by the exclamation point at the end of this article, yikes.)

[chrix]

蒼鷺 - heron; 白鷺 - egret

[Daan]

吃[X]的豆腐 - to tease sb, especially for interaction between the sexes

[anonymoose]

吃[X]的豆腐 - to tease sb, especially for interaction between the sexes

That's not my understanding of it. As far as I know, 吃某人的豆腐 means to touch a girl more than one should. Tease would be something more like 挑逗. Maybe a native speaker could confirm.