Random new word of the day

[Nathan Mao]

regarding 囊, I just ran across 阴囊。

definition: scrotum.

So there you have it.

[Demonic_Duck]

"Hidden sack". Sounds about right.

[ouyangjun]

 

regarding 囊, I just ran across 阴囊。

definition: scrotum.

So there you have it.

 

And the female counterpart is 阴帝.  

 

Funny story on how I know that.  I've got a laowai friend who has the humor of a 14 year old boy.  One day him and I are in Guangdong and he says to me, "Want to see something funny?".  Well of course of do.  

 

Some background for those not familiar with a Chinese 发票 receipt.  When you're at a restaurant you can ask them to give you the official 发票 receipt.  Most of these receipts have a form of a lottery at the top.  You take a coin and scratch off the silver film and see if you win any money.

 

So we get the 发票 receipt and my friend tells the waitress to hold on and starts to look for a coin to scratch off the lottery on the 发票.  He realizes he doesn't have one and turns to the waitress and says, "你有没有阴帝？" Her face turns red and and she doesn't know what to say and he quickly says, “啊，对不起对不起。我的意思是你有没有硬币".

 

They sound close enough that it could be a simple foreigner mistake, but a clear enough difference that you definitely said the wrong one.  I have to admit it was funny.  Turns out I also have the humor of a 14 year old boy.  But since that day I will never forget what the word 阴帝 means.

 

阴帝 (yin1 di4) - clitoris

硬币 (ying4 bi4) - coin

[skylee]

And the female counterpart is 阴帝.

阴帝 (yin1 di4) - clitoris

I suggest you double check the Chinese term.

[ouyangjun]

@skylee... you're right.  It should be 阴蒂.  I had the wrong second character.  Why on earth would my pinyin editor pop up the wrong 蒂。

[Demonic_Duck]

I also suggest you double-check your knowledge of female anatomy - since when is the clitoris the female counterpart of the scrotum?

 

Anyway, continuing in the vein of "阴" -> "private"...

 

阴茎 - penis

阴道 - vagina

 

(Both formal/medical terms... not gonna post the "vulgar" variants for fear of turning this into a "dirty words thread"... speaking of which, why don't we have a dedicated thread for that purpose?)

[tysond]

Windows pinyin input brought up the right one for me.   But don't worry a lot of people have trouble finding the 阴蒂.

[Demonic_Duck]

Well-played there.

 

^ The above is the main thing I wanted to post, but I don't feel this is very constructive. As such, my new word is 敷衍. As in, "I'm 敷衍ning by posting this word when I can't think of anything better to post".

[roddy]

A boring one to act as a cold shower:

 

矿产, kùangchǎn - minerals / mineral resources. In Chinese this includes hydrocarbons, although strictly speaking they aren't minerals. In English in a property ownership context the term also includes hydrocarbons - mineral rights includes natural gas or oil. However, Pennsylvania is a special case, as courts have decided that 'mineral rights' in deeds there do not include shale gas. 

 

 

My morning hasn't all been dull though, I also got to track down some quotes from Li Keqiang's government work report!

[Nathan Mao]

@Demonic_Duck

"hidden" or "private" work fine for 阴, so I'm probably causing unnecessary trouble, but in the context of genitalia, I usually think of 阴 as "nether".

[Demonic_Duck]

Dunno about you folks in the US, but in the UK we use "privates" or "private parts" as a euphemism for genitalia.

[Nathan Mao]

We use those, too.

 

But "nether" has a multiple connotations of Hell (the location), dark, below/beneath and sexual.  阴 has very similar connotations when talking about genitalia, so in light of attempting to be true to both the original language and the target language, I suggested it an option. 

 

Not as an edict.  If "privates" works better in UK English, that's good to know.

[tooironic]

This is one thing I've always wondered. If 陰 is supposed to be "female", and 陽 "male" why does 陰 combine with both male and female anatomy? E.g. 陰蒂 clitoris, 陰囊 scrotum, 陰莖 penis, 陰道 vagina, etc.

[Nathan Mao]

Because 陰 is not supposed to mean "female" in all contexts.  Sometimes it just means "dark" or "hidden" or "secretive" or even "malicious".

 

That's why I think of it as "nether" when speaking of genitalia, because it drops the gender connotation...just like it drops that connotation in Chinese for 陰蒂, 陰囊, 陰莖, 陰道

[陳德聰]

That's because when it means "female", it doesn't actually mean female...

Females are a type of 陰 thing and males are a type of 陽 thing, not the other way around.

[skylee]

和理非非 - acronym of 和平、理性、非暴力、非粗口 (peaceful, rational, non-violent, non-verbally abusingve no foul language).

[Guest realmayo]

Presumably you mean "not verbally abusive": non-verbally abusing suggests you are abusing, but non-verbally 

[imron]

non-verbally abusing suggests you are abusing, but non-verbally

But surely by the same token, not verbally abusive means abusive, but non-verbally? 

[Guest realmayo]

Hehe, depends on the tone (ok stress)....

[skylee]

男神 - male version of 女神, celebrities who are considered extremely attractive/ beautiful and worshipped by many followers.