Random new word of the day

[Vivi MENG]

Just found myself learning English as well. Thanks guys! haha

[Vivi MENG]

 

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.c...iew/3137329.htm

 

Quote

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

Really? I thought a more widely used word is 学区房。

[Vivi MENG]

 

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.c...iew/3137329.htm

 

Quote

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

Really? I thought a more widely used word is 学区房。

[Vivi MENG]

 

海虹 hǎihóng mussel, or in this case, the title of a comic book from the Cultural Revolution.

The main character in my book and her foreign boyfriend are in a second hand book store.

杂志里竟然还夹着一本文革时期的连环画《海虹》。我拿起给雷恩看，问他知道什么是红小兵吗？

“不就是封面上那个意气风发，大眼睛，扎辫子的小姑娘吗？”

他翻开连环画，饶有趣味地看着。

小红兵 was also a difficult one, I couldn't find an existing translation and in the end just went with 'Little Red Soldier' with a short explanation.

红小兵, a special word used in the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命), means teenagers that participated actively to support the Communist Party and Mao Ze Dong in the Cultural Revolution. Sorry, I don't know how to add a picture in the reply. Actually you can just Baidu it. 

[陳德聰]

I'd usually call 红小兵 "Red Youth". Kind of similar to the Hitler Youth.

[Lu]

Vivi Meng, thanks for the further explanation. I did search for it (forgot if I found the meaning on Wikipedia or Baidu), and my understanding was that the 小红兵 were kids who wanted to be 红卫兵 but were still too young, so they started their own groups. And as I understood it, it's not the same as the Young Pioneers (that still exist nowadays). Is that correct?

Chen Decong, I suppose that would work too... But I think I'll stick with Kleine Rode Soldaatjes (Little Red Soldiers), as it's clear they are small, and might grow up into Rode Gardes (Red Guards). And since for Hitler Youth, in Dutch we usually just use the German term (Hitlerjugend), the equivalence that you get in English would be less clear in Dutch.

And a random word: 蛛丝马迹, small hint, clue.

[Vivi MENG]

 

 

and my understanding was that the 小红兵 were kids who wanted to be 红卫兵 but were still too young, so they started their own groups. And as I understood it, it's not the same as the Young Pioneers (that still exist nowadays). Is that correct?

Yes, it is correct. It is a word only used during the Cultural Revolution. 

BTW, you kept saying 小红兵. It is actually 红小兵。

[Nathan Mao]

I thougth the Chinese equivalent to the Hitler Youth was the Young Pioneers: 中国少年先锋队

 

I looked it up and found out the Young Pioneer was temporarily suspended from 1966 to 1978...in its place was the Little Red Guards, the 红小兵.  Just like the Young Pioneers prepared kids for membership in the Communist Youth League, the 红小兵 prepared kids to become 红卫兵.

 

So Mao Zedong took the Communist organization structure and deliberately turned it into his personal cult of personality.

 

That was a weird, difficult time to live in China.

[Vivi MENG]

re Mao

中国少年先锋队 is not the Chinese equivalent to the Hitler Youth. This organization exists now. Its image is pretty positive. 

However 红小兵 is kind of ...you know.

I don't think 红小兵 can replacing 中国少年先锋队 from 1966 to 1978, because they are of totally different targets and principles.  

But I haven't been living in that special period of history. I can be wrong.

[Nathan Mao]

I have no personal knowledge/understanding of the Young Pioneers or the Red Guard.

 

The information came from Wikipedia (which sometimes is wrong):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Pioneers_of_China

 

which says:

During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1978), the Young Pioneers Movement was temporarily dismantled. It was replaced by the Little Red Guards, who were the younger counterparts of the Red Guards, the implementers of the Cultural Revolution. The Young Pioneers Movement was restarted in October 1978.

[tysond]

However 红小兵 is kind of ...you know. 

 

 

Back to random new words... “你懂的” - seems very popular lately.  

"You know" as above, "you know what I'm talking about".  Seems to refer to things which things that need not be mentioned in detail.  

 

A catchphrase of the TV show 快感剩女.

[Nathan Mao]

暧昧

Ambiguous/equivocal.

fuzzy

dark/dim

obscure.

 

...depending on the context.

[tooironic]

Speaking of 曖昧, is there a way to translate:

 

他經常搞曖昧。

他們倆很曖昧。

 

Into idiomatic English?

[Nathan Mao]

I'd really need more context to know which meaning of 曖昧 to use.

Possibly:

He is always very mysterious.

Those two are a little shady.

Or:

He is usually very vague.

The relationship between those two is very ambiguous.

Depending on the context, either set could be correct, or neither.

[Nathan Mao]

猜猜

Easy, right?

But in this case, it doesn't mean "guess" or "suspicion".

 

猎猎

 

Easy, right?  Something to do with hunting?  Just checked several online dictionaries and they all mention just one basic meaning of "hunting/capturing animals".

Here's the full sentence:
旗声猎猎。

This was right after someone said something that embarrassed themselves in front of a crowd of people during an outdoor ceremony.
The sentence preceding was "nobody moved a hair", and the sentence following was "许三多continued the ceremony."

So in my opinion, in this case, 猎猎 is an onomatopoeia for the snapping sound flags make in a breeze.

 

(thanks to 陳德聰 for catching my mistake)

[陳德聰]

他经常搞暧昧 - He is a player.
他们俩很暧昧 - Those two act just like a couple.

The sense (semantics) of 很暧昧 and 搞暧昧 are totally different from each other in Chinese, so I would expect them to not have a word in English that can encompass both meanings.

Also re: #1555, are you sure it wasn't 旗声猎猎?

[Nathan Mao]

Ha! You're right.

 

Man, I guess I need reading glasses.  Edited!

[Nathan Mao]

戛然 jia2 ran2 in a screeching manner

戛然而止 come to a screeching halt

[陳德聰]

RE: #1560

Ugh, I am facepalming so hard right now. 蒙昧 is my word for today I suppose. "Ignorant" or "uncultured".

[imron]

Discussion about Young Pioneers has been moved here.

 

As a result, the post number referenced above is not correct.