Random new word of the day

[mouse]

 

伥

figuratively, a spirit/ghost that helps the tiger who killed him.

 

I think as a word on it's own it should be 伥鬼 or 虎伥, as 伥 on it's own can also mean crazy. The 说文解字 only has the latter meaning: “狂也。” However the "crazy" meaning might be a bit obsolete, but I think apart from the 成语, all instances of 伥 seem pretty uncommon.

 

Great word, where did you come across it?

[Nathan Mao]

《士兵突击》

（the 许三多 book)

[Lu]

针对性 zhēnduìxìng

In a text about art that I'm attempting to translate and that's meeting all the cliches about writing about art. 针对性, I kind of feel what it means but how on earth do I translate this. 'Direction' perhaps comes close. Nciku says 'pertinence', Iciba has some nice example sentences with a different translation in each instance.

[Nathan Mao]

targeted

aimed at

directed towards

aligned

For a text about Art, you could probably stretch it to mean "in response to" or "regarding", since much of Art is commentary on life/society or in response to someone else's artistic commentary on life/society.

[OneEye]

Relevance?

 

I hate translating art/design related stuff. It's like empty buzzword after empty buzzword, and I'm supposed to make it all make sense in another language when it doesn't really mean anything in the original anyway.

[Lu]

I hate translating art/design related stuff. It's like empty buzzword after empty buzzword, and I'm supposed to make it all make sense in another language when it doesn't really mean anything in the original anyway.

Exactly. This is the fifth article in a row, and with the others I had to read the Dutch after finishing the translation to get an idea of what it actually said. It didn't help that the sentences were endless, the guy writes in a style like Liu Xiaobo's.

Nathan Mao: that's the general meaning, except that 针对性 is a 名词. And just to make it more fun, it's [什么什么]具有明确的现实针对性, so now I also have to decide whether it's 'realistic 针对性' or '针对性 towards reality'.

But I do like translation, really. And after this my book will be so easy.

[Nathan Mao]

The latter.

The placement of the 的 indicates 现实针对性 is supposed to a unified concept modified by 具有明确

 

I would translate it as "possesses a clear aim of reality" or maybe (assuming that the 现实 refers to the artistic Realism movement) "has an obvious orientation toward realism"

 

FWIW, Google Translate says: "Has clear practical relevance"

 

Good luck, and good on ya for the translation. Translation itself is absolutely an Art, not a science.  I relish those times that you find the perfect wording that remains perfectly faithful to the original language but also gives the correct impression, tone, and connotation in the target language.

So my suggestions are just spurs to give you other ideas.  Since I don't have the source material, I have no expectation my suggestions will be correct or even all that helpful.

[dwq]

How about 'directedness'. Actually 针对性 sounds like a term translated from English itself.

[dwq]

BTW, I was taught not to write sentences like xx具有明确的现实针对性 as it is mimicking English grammar and sounds clumsy, when you can just write xx明確地針對現實。

[Lu]

dwq, I agree. Chinese was just not made for run-on sentences without commas. But then, the writer of this stuff is an eminent Chinese art critic, so who am I to judge his style.

Nathan Mao, thanks, that should help!

[Nathan Mao]

垫巴

The way I've heard it, it means to snack a little bit, maybe just graze on available snacks, not really eat a meal, but nibble on something.

Found online that it might be 天津话:

天津话·饭前“垫巴”饭后“着巴”

but I've never heard 着巴。

 

But today in 《士兵突击》, I ran across this sentence:

你们先去吃吧，我再垫巴垫巴这伪装坑

Now, the antecedent of "you go eat first" does fit the idea of 垫巴 being to just grab a bite to eat, but the grammar doesn't work to mean he's going to eat in the camouflage combat trench.

The only way I can understand it is: "You go eat first, I'm going to spread this camouflage (on the) combat trench a little more."

 

Wife confirmed that in this case it means "spread", but she had no idea what the characters were for the snacking phrase...even though she was the one who taught it to me. It must have traveled in speech only from 天津 to 北京, at least for her. Her family is highly educated, tho, so it probably isn't that commonly used in writing.

[Guest realmayo]

学位

 

Heard this not as "academic degree etc" but to refer to an apartment being in catchment area for good schools. Not sure if it's in widespread use.

 

Edit: Baidu has 学位房 http://baike.baidu.com/view/3137329.htm

 

学位房，是孩子在小学及小学升初中、初中升高中时为了得到该地段相对应学校的学位而在该学校所规划的学区房内购买房产，以使得孩子得到该学校的学位

[Lu]

别来无恙 biélái wúyàng 'I hope you have been well since we last saw each other'. It was explained to me as a phrase you use when you haven't seen someone in a long time but back in the day you used to be very close.

[Guest realmayo]

Roddy should set up a 别来无恙 topic and see if any formerly active forummers will give us a one-off update     

[Lu]

五斗橱 wǔdǒuchú

I saw this word and guessed it was a very small kitchen, but it's a dresser with drawers. Specifically, a dresser with 5 drawers, and there are also 二 to 十斗橱 (at least!). I have only just seen this word for the first time but somehow I love it, it's so specific yet sensible.

[Demonic_Duck]

厨房的厨 is different from 橱柜的橱 ;)

 

Speaking of 橱柜 and its near-homophones, there's also 出柜 (to come out of the closet, which I learnt a while ago but many older Chinese people don't recognise) and 出轨 (to come off the rails, i.e. to find a 小三, which I didn't know until the whole 文章丑闻).

[Nathan Mao]

即兴 impromptu or improvised

[Demonic_Duck]

I just spent the weekend in the company of 11 rather lovely Chinese people, most of whom couldn't speak a lick of English, and as such was given a lesson in humility about my language skills (what else should I have expected, really?)

 

I could list a total of 60+ "words of the day", but instead I'll just list a few of the more interesting/useful ones:

 

“以防万一” - just in case

“打呼噜” - to snore (I always thought this was simply “打呼”, but I guess “打呼噜” is more common)

“鳟鱼” - trout

“微风” - a light breeze

“阴” - overcast (I was vaguely aware of this meaning, but didn't recognise it when spoken)

“胡蜂” - hornet

“蜇” - to sting (of a wasp, bee, hornet etc.)

“打水漂” - to skim stones

“小众” - opposite of 大众, i.e. a minority of people/niche appeal

“机枪” - machine gun

“梯田” - terraced fields

“地平线” - horizon

“小心翼翼” - very cautiously, with great care

“游离” - to zone out

“狗刨” - doggy paddle

“拧” - to squeeze/wring “拧柠檬” to squeeze a lemon

“金毛/金毛狗/金毛巡回猎犬” - golden retriever

[Nathan Mao]

Great list!

I would never have figured out 游离 on my own.

[Nathan Mao]

马扎 folding stool

Clear from context, but (to me), not clear at all just from the characters without context.