Couhuo

[AllenQuid]

I was listening to npr the other day, specifically this broadcast, and both I and my teachers are curious what characters are being used for the word couhuo. We're fairly sure the first is 凑, but there are a few possibilities with huo that we're not sure about.

Edit: Solved it! Looks like it's actually probably 凑合.

Edited October 21, 2009 at 05:09 PM by AllenQuid

[HashiriKata]

From the way the word was used, I guess it'd be 凑合. But I'm not sure if this is correct, because the pronunciation for 凑合 is COU4HE. So it could be a different word they were talking about, or equally likely, they pronounced it wrongly as "couhuo" simply because they don't speak Chinese.

[roddy]

The artists seem to be using couhuo as the 'English' version - see here in the image. I've never come across huo as a pronunication for 合 (Edit: though see on 北京土音, “凑合“合”he-huo”） , but I note that if you type couhuo into Sogou pinyin the second option is "凑合（he）" which makes me think it crops up now and then somehow. You can also see people attempting to coin 凑活 as a 凑合 way of 生活：

凑合着工作，凑合着领薪水，凑合着买菜做饭，凑合着穿衣，凑合着睡觉，然后第二天醒来又是新一轮的“凑合”。如此周而复始，生活也就变成了彻头彻尾的“凑活”。

Edited October 21, 2009 at 06:01 PM by roddy

[tooironic]

Yeah, it's interesting, because I've always said couhuo myself but people have corrected it as couhe. Then I say couhe to another person and they don't know what I'm talking about! Another example of variant pronunciation I suppose.

[roddy]

It's quite possible that I have heard it to be honest, and just not registered it. I've now said it to myself under my breath so many times trying to figure out if I've heard it that it now sounds perfectly acceptable anyway.

(Just asked and got told it's a 北京人 thing. Hey ho, learn something new every day. Then forget it.)

[BertR]

Yeah, it's interesting, because I've always said couhuo myself but people have corrected it as couhe.

I had similar situations with 暖和。