Random new word of the day

[skylee]

I wrote this today. It was not new to me, and it came to my head naturally. But after I had written it, I thought, what an interesting description.

This might be new to some learners - 十二萬分 = extremely

I found it interesting as I preferred it to 十分 and 萬分 because I wanted to stress the extent of seriousness. And 10 and 10,000 simply can't compare to 120,000.

[Lu]

Not really a word, but a phrase: 半明半暗的光线 bànmíng bàn'àn de guāngxiàn semi-darkness, dim light

Threw me off a bit: how can a 光线 be 暗, or even 半暗? But as it turns out it's not weird, it's a set phrase.

[陳德聰]

光线 can be literally a ray of light, but it also just means lighting (as for a photograph, or in a room, etc.) so if you think of dim lighting in a fancy restaurant, I think it might help it be less weird

[imron]

千斤顶 - jack for a car.  Guess who had to change a tire recently

[Lu]

一时半会儿 yīshí bànhuìr  a very short amount of time, or a rather long amount of time. Similar to 一阵子, it seems. I called a Taiwanese university once to ask about their Taiwanese classes, I'd read about people taking them a few years earlier. 'We haven't had those classes 一阵子 actually...' said the lady on the phone, hesitantly. I think that was the first time I heard 一阵子 used in the 'a very long time' sense.

 

Sentence I saw 一时半会儿 in: 我讨厌上海的冬天，表面上不太冷，但只要五分钟不动，寒气便从皮肤渗进骨头，很快又钻入心脏，一时半会儿怎么也抽不出来，不仅是寒气彻骨，更是寒气攻心。

And now I'm not entirely sure if here it means 'in no time at all you won't be able to get rid of it' or rather 'you won't be able to get rid of it for quite a long time'.

[Kobo-Daishi]

My random word of the day is 海派.

I came across this word while researching video clips to add to my YouTube channel. It's in the title of the Taiwanese romance drama for which Rainie Yang won her Golden Bell best leading actress in a television series.

Try to figure out the definition.

I looked it up in all the dictionaries available to me online and off and have only found the definition in one. It's an analogy, metaphor, or figure of speech. And no, it has nothing to do with opera or Lu Xun.

I'll post the answer in a few days if no one gets it.

 

 

I'd forgotten I wrote this.

 

 

The title of the Taiwanese romance drama was 海派甜心.

 

And 海派 is an analogy for spending extravagently on something.

 

When I saw the drama and the little smilie face in the English fan subs, I knew something was up. 

 

So I looked it up.

 

The only dictionary that I found that had it, or rather the definition meant in the video, is the Guoyu Cidian put out by Taiwan's Ministry of Education.

 

戲曲及學術界指居於上海的派系，以別於京派。 比喻人用錢闊綽豪爽。如：「他為人海派，付帳時總是不落人後。」      

 

Is the definition in your dictionary? Quite a nice little dictionary. The Guoyu. I believe it's open source now. Or read as such on some recent thread.

 

So 海派 doesn't concern Shanghai opera or the whole Beijing vs. Shanghai rivalry thing (kind of like America's East Coast vs. West Coast rappers).  

 

I guess it's fairly common. After all, the fan subbers knew it.

 

Kobo.

[Lu]

画虎画皮难画骨，知人知面不知心 You can know someone but you don't know what's really going on in their mind. Or, in the English translation I have, 'a face can hide a mind'. Which as it turns out is not an existing saying in English, perhaps it should be.

[Nathan Mao]

You could probably tangentially connect it to "Beauty is only skin deep", but I admit that isn't exactly the same.

When used to mean that someone may be beautiful with a horrible personality or lack of integrity, it does, however.

 

My brother-in-law has consoled himself on the morning commute, at times, by saying, "好车不一定是好人“

[Lu]

鞣 or 鞣皮 róu, to tan (leather). Meaning was immediately clear from the context, but pronunciation I had to check of course to make sure.

[Carl Chen]

夯 Hāng  ( ㄏㄤ in Taiwanese pinyin)

 

when it is a hot topic of conversation or it is popular, you can describe it as 夯 (adjectives).

 

For example,

 

1. 聽說雷神巧克力很夯 It is said that 雷神 (Léishén) chocolate is very popular.

 

2. 過年最夯的禮物 The most popular present in Chinese New Year

 

3. 最近有哪些日劇很夯? Is there any famous Japanese drama recently?

[skylee]

Re #1590 above, it was also mentioned in my #1481 - http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/14374-random-new-word-of-the-day/?p=330432

[MPhillips]

...

[tooironic]

Wenlin gives an interesting explanation:

The original meaning of 蛊, aside from naming the hexagram ䷑, is quite remarkable. 新法编排汉语词典 gives the following definition:
    “旧时传说, 把许多毒虫放在器皿里使互相吞食, 最后剩下不死的毒虫叫蛊, 用来放在食物里害人。”
    Enjoy your meal! In the full form 蠱, the top 蟲 is 虫 tripled.

[MPhillips]

...

[Lu]

MPhilips and tooironic: I had seen that character before and never thought it was literally about beasties on a plate. That story is great.

 

My word: 钋 pō polonium.

Just started a book about a future nuclear disaster and filled my Anki with some nuclear-related words. This particular one comes from the main character explaining to his girlfriend how Litvinenko was killed with polonium inside his body (instead of hurting him with radiation from the outside), because '钋的有害辐射只要两张纸就能挡住。'

[Demonic_Duck]

交配 - to mate

求偶 - to find a partner

一夫一妻制 - monogamy

一夫多妻制 - polygyny

一妻多夫制 - polyandry

多配偶制 - polygamy (but I think this term is rarely used, “一夫多妻制” is more commonly used where English would typically use "polygamy", as the form of polygamy referred to is normally polygyny)

滥交 - to choose one's company indiscriminately

性滥交 - casual sex/promiscuity

 

Yep, I've been learning about the birds and the bees. Unfortunately, Chinese doesn't seem to have a similarly colourful euphemism for "sex ed 101", Baidu zhidao and similar resources just give “基本的性知识” and such

[MPhillips]

...

[MPhillips]

...

[Lu]

Here's two:

娇小 jiāoxiǎo 'petite, delicate'

丰腴 fēngyú 'buxom, full-figured' (although if I go by google image, it seems to mean mostly 'big-breasted' or 'lots of cleavage')

Guy in my book is fantasizing: 他想象着那下[under the tree, that is]卧着个娇小丰腴的少女。

I suppose in a fantasy everything is possible, even if I'd have thought that 娇小 is the opposite of 丰腴. I suppose I'll go with 'delicate, shapely girl'.

[Carl Chen]

Re #1598

 

I think 拈花惹草 or 惹草拈花 is the correct one instead of 惹花拈草.

 

This phrase comes from 紅樓夢.

 

紅樓夢˙第二十一回：「他生性輕浮，最喜拈花惹草。」

 

The phrase equals to「拈花弄月」、「拈花摘草」、「拈花摘葉」、「粘花惹絮」、「粘花惹草」、「惹草拈花」、「惹草粘花」、「惹草黏花」、「惹草沾風」、「惹草沾花」、「招花惹草」。