Same thing, different names

[abcdefg]

#124 -- For long underwear here (Kunming) I say 保暖内衣。

[crystal123]

instant noodles - 即食麵。速食麵。方便麵。泡麵。快熟面

[skylee]

rabies - 狂犬病。瘋狗症/病。恐水病/症。

[scarlett]

#160 @abcdefg

When I want it turned over, I say 双面。 In the US, I order "over easy" which means to just fry it a little bit on the second side. Don't know how to say that here. Suggestions?

------------------------------------

In Chinese people use “淌心蛋” to describe a fried egg that only has its egg wihte been fried, it literally means the egg yolk （蛋的中心）is still liquid （可以流淌的）.

[skylee]

In Chinese people use “淌心蛋” to describe a fried egg that only has its egg wihte been fried, it literally means the egg yolk （蛋的中心）is still liquid （可以流淌的）.

I think it shoule be 溏心 (O) rather than 淌心 (X). Take a look -> http://humanum.arts....ory=wholerecord and http://www.zdic.net/...dicBAZdic8F.htm and http://xh.5156edu.co...ml5/109403.html

I use it to describe boiled / poached eggs only. For fried eggs, I use 半生熟 vs 全熟.

[Michaelyus]

scallop: 扇贝、带子

[heifeng]

From the novel 白鹿原, I ran into the term：四六风 which is basically 新生儿破伤风/Neonatal tetanus (which appears in 4-6 days, more here). Anyway, other names are:

“七日风“或“脐风“

Edit, Also I had to give Xiaocai @ post #61 a '+' b/c I ran into 苞谷 （written as 包谷） in the book too.

Also, although this one will open a up a whole can of worms (har har har),

Sparrow: 麻雀， 家雀 and many more as shown here (although I've mostly seen the first 2)

[Kobo-Daishi]

Lately I've taken to watching Taiwanese romance idol dramas to improve my Chinese. Usually, I'd watch the original in Taiwanese Mandarin and then I'd download a Cantonese dubbed version broadcast for the Hong Kong market.

I watch to see the difference in the language that they use. Not just in the Cantonese speech, but, also the difference between the subtitled standard Chinese used by the Hong Kong version vs. the subtitle that came with the original Mandarin dub (which more closely follows what was spoken in the Taiwan original). The Hong Kong version invariably never use the same subs that are used in the original Mandarin. Strange, indeed.

You expect differences between the spoken Cantonese vs. the spoken Mandarin. "Nei dei" (or more likely cringe-worthy "lei dei") for "ni men", "do jeh" for "xie xie", "mm hai" for "bu shi", etc. But, they also have different words for the same thing. Words common to both Mandarin and Cantonese, but, an alternate one.

I was watching the Cantonese version of the award winning Ariel Lin dramedy In Time With You when I came across this.

For instance, in this still from the drama, the standard Chinese subtitles has "你很難(难)伺候 哪個(个)同學(学). While in Cantonese, they're saying:

"lei (cringe) ho lan (cringe again) fuk si. bin go tung hok."

I wasn't sure about the "fuk si". I figured the "fuk" was of "yi fu", "clothes" since 服 means "serve; clothes" and it forms 服務(服务), "to serve; service". But hadn't a clue as to "si".

So I turned to my current go-to-dictionary, the GoldenDict program using some dictionary files in the StarDict format. And it came up with this.

服侍 - to wait on; to attend; to care; to serve; to nurse; to minister to

And 伺候 returns "to wait on; to minister to; to serve" which bears me out.

According to the Xiandai Hanyu Cidian entry for 服侍, it may also be written 伏侍、服事。All pronounced fu2 shi4.

So there you have it, 4 ways for writing the same thing. 伺候, 服侍, 伏侍、and 服事.

With the last three pronounced the same but with different characters. I wonder if there are more words where different character combinations have the same meaning and same pronunciations.

I find a lot of "same thing, different names" words this way.

Here's another.

In the subs it's "鼓掌", "drum palms" while they're saying "拍手", "clap hands" for "clap hands".

I'm now downloading and watching the Japanese anime series Chibi Maruko-chan with a dual audio track in Mandarin and Cantonese. No subtitles. No Japanese audio either.

When I came across 牛乳 on this carton of milk, I thought it was Japanese only seeing as both the audio tracks say 牛奶 in Mandarin and Cantonese. But then I checked in a few Chinese dictionaries and both entries are there with a definition of "cow's milk" for both words.

Kobo.

[skylee]

Another post that is (partly) related to the award winning Ariel Lin.

So there you have it, 4 ways for writing the same thing. 伺候, 服侍, 伏侍、and 服事.

The fifth way - 伺候 = 侍候 (the pronunciations are the same in Cantonese, but not in Mandarin.)

[Michaelyus]

Another one with 事/侍 is 事奉 vs 侍奉. Though my IME only includes the latter natively, I use the former pretty much exclusively. But the connotations are significantly different enough that I would hesitate to call them the 'same thing'.

[Kobo-Daishi]

Skylee wrote:

Another post that is (partly) related to the award winning Ariel Lin.

Yes, I was becoming addicted.

I've since gone cold turkey. No more Ariel Lin dramas. Though I might still post some of the interesting language notes I gained from having watched her programs.

For instance, in this scene from Lin's In Time With You, she and the male lead are in a supermarket's feminine hygiene product aisle discussing the various options. Thin ones, thick ones, long ones, short ones, ones with wings and ones without wings.

In the standard Chinese subtitles for both the Taiwanese Mandarin edition and Hong Kong Cantonese edition they have "wings" as "翅".

While the Cantonese audio has her clearly saying "翼".

Now both "翅" and "翼" have a definition of "wing" and "fin".

I usually associate "翅" with 魚(鱼)翅 as in "shark's fin soup" and "翼" with "雞(鸡)翼", "chicken wings". But are the two characters interchangeable?

Can I order a plate of Buffalo wings using "翅"? No, buffalos don't have wings. They are so called because they were invented in Buffalo, New York. New York the state not New York the city. ;-) Rather a newer invention to boot. Didn't have them when I was growing up. ;-) According to Wikipedia, they were invented in 1964. I guess they didn't go nation-wide until the last decade or two. ;-)

And can I talk of a shark fin sticking out of the water using "翼"?

Kobo.

[Kobo-Daishi]

Another item from Lin’s In Time With You.

In the scene at Lucinda's bbq pool party, the Lin character is sitting around all her classmates’ kids when one by one they all say they’ve “gotta take a dump”.

It’s a hilarious scene. For a minute Lin channels her inner Xiangqin. The panic-stricken deer-in-the-headlights look. ;-0

In the Taiwanese Mandarin edition of the series, both the audio and standard Chinese subtitles have “大便” for “to take a crap”.

But as you can see in the snapshot above, in the Hong Kong Cantonese edition they have the standard Chinese subs as “大號(号)” for “to poop”. While in the Cantonese audio track the kids are saying “bin bin” for “to take a dump”.

I guess “bin bin” is “便便” and an Internet search proves me right, but, where did “大號(号)” come from?

Does it mean “big number”?

In America, a common colloquialism for “to defecate” is “number two”. "Go do number two". Is this a Chinese (Cantonese?) equivalent?

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=%22%E4%BE%BF%E4%BE%BF%22&btnG=Search+Images Cute images of “bin bin”.

The images are from all over the Chinese-speaking world, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore. I thought I even saw one from Japan, but, have thus far not found it again. Though, it could have been a Japanese discussion of terms for “poo” in Chinese for all I know. Can’t read Japanese. ;-)

Kobo.

[skylee]

As far as birds' wings are concerned, 翅 and 翼 are the same. But it is very obvious that the former is used in Mandarin and hardly in Cantonese except in writing or in terms like 展翅. Apart from shark fin I don't think 翅 is used on fins of other fish, which is usually called 鰭. 翼 is not applicable, except in the wings of flying fish (it exists, right?)

In Hong Kong, wings in buildings are also called 翼. It seems that on Mainland they are usually called 座.

Buffalo in Buffalo wings is called 水牛城. We are not stupid.

[Kobo-Daishi]

Skylee wrote:

In Hong Kong, wings in buildings are also called 翼. It seems that on Mainland they are usually called 座.

Like a hospital wing of a prison or school, like Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Or the West Wing of the White House as in the television series?

"翼" always reminds me of the "十翼", "ten wings" the ten set of commentaries to the Yi Jing (or Zhou Yi) traditionally attributed to Confucius.

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

http://zh.wikipedia....dia.org/wiki/易经

http://zh.wikipedia....dia.org/wiki/十翼

In this instance, "翼" means "助", "help, assist".

Kobo.

[lingo-ling]

I guess “bin bin” is “便便” and an Internet search proves me right, but, where did “大號(号)” come from?

Does it mean “big number"?

Looks like a possibility. Funny thing is, it also means "tuba". And 小號 means "trumpet".

Is this a Chinese (Cantonese?) equivalent?

Also Mandarin, at least in Taiwan. And kids in Taiwan also say 便便.

[heifeng]

hammer: 锤子， 榔头 or "狼头"

[Kenny同志]

letter 書、信、函、書函、書信、尺素、尺牘

road 路、道

ant 螞蟻、蟻

snakehead 烏鱧、黑魚

earthworm 蚯蚓、蚓、地龍

honeysuckle flower 金銀花、銀花、雙花

old man 老叟、叟、老頭兒

old woman 老婦、老嫗、老婆婆、老太太、老太婆

child 童、童子、小孩兒、孩子、孩童

good-looking man 俊男、美男子、帥哥、靚仔（if the man is young）

good-looking woman 紅顏、美人、美婦、美女、佳人、靚女

father 父、父親、爹、爸、爸爸、老爸

mother 母、母親、娘、娘親、媽、媽媽、老媽

wife 娘子、妻、妻子、夫人、太太、媳婦兒、老婆、堂客

husband 相公、夫、丈夫、官人、先生、老公

elder sister/female cousin 姐、姐姐、姊、姊姊

younger sisiter/female cousin 妹、妹妹

elder brother/male cousin 兄、哥、哥哥

younger brother/male cousin 弟、弟弟

[skylee]

unlimited (applicable to cell phone airtime, mobile data usage, and the likes) - 無限。吃到飽。

[skylee]

traffic light - 交通燈。紅綠燈。

[tooironic]

Wart:

疣 yóu (formal)

瘊子 hóuzi (informal)

肉赘 ròuzhuì (informal)

赘疣 zhuìyóu (informal)

All of these terms often unknown by native speakers of Mandarin - probably because warts are uncommon in China.