Compounds (辭) vs. Characters (字) and the need to preserve the latter

[Mark Yong]

In a humble attempt to resuscitate this topic and bring it back to its original intention...

What does everyone think about a greater use of 愼 in writing over 小心? The character on its own already carries the unambiguous meaning of ‘careful/cautious’, e.g.

1. 生命可貴作業必愼。

2. 君子必愼其獨也。

If compounding is required for re-clarification, then 愼重 and 謹愼 could do it.

[imron]

What does everyone think about a greater use of 愼 in writing over 小心

It would make signs like 小心地滑 nowhere near as fun...

[Hofmann]

愼 is such a big word, it was ditched in favor of 小心.

[Mark Yong]

imron wrote:

It would make signs like 小心地滑 nowhere near as fun...

I just find 『謹愼地滑』 so much more elegant...

Hofmann wrote:

愼 is such a big word, it was ditched in favor of 小心.

Umm... could you define ‘big’? Do you mean that comparitively, 13 strokes across 愼 is more complex compared to 7 strokes across the 2 character 小心?

[Hofmann]

I was being sarcastic. What I mean by "big" is that you can't count on people having 愼 in their vocabulary. <-more sarcasm, BTW

[skylee]

I think 謹慎地滑 sounds laughable rather than elegant. The context is always important, and when you talk about slippery floor 小心appears to be a more appropriate choice of word.

[Mark Yong]

Is the character 癨 huò still used for ‘cholera’, or has it been fully supplanted by the compound 霍亂?

《廣韻》 虛郭切

《正韻》 忽郭切、叢音霍。

《玉篇》 癨、病也。

《廣韻》 吐病。

《類篇》 病亂也。

《正字通》按方書作霍亂、皆濕熱寒氣、七情內傷、六氣外感所致。 或轉筋腹痛、或煩悶脹滿、或中惡吐逆。 各證不一。