Word of the Day project 每日一词计划 (Day 12 updated)

[malanting]

Hello everybody. I'm a native Chinese who like English. And I noticed that many of you are just like me, except that you're the other way around. Many of you are native English speakers interested in learning Chinese.

Maybe we can help each other learn more with this "Word of the Day" project.

Starting from today, I will update several Chinese expressions every day. (Not necessarily the sort of words you can learn from a textbook, but something that appears in our daily conversations). Then would you please translate, or rather find an equivalent to those words or expressions in English? (Or simply how you would put it)

In this way we can both learn a bit and help each other. Hopefully, it will become a hot topic.

Feel free to ask me any question concerning the words and examples I give.

A list of words learned so far and where you can find them:

(words in brackets are "by-products" of the discussion)

Day 12 理发店，美容院，鬓角，刘海，染发，烫发 P8 #147

Day 11 单眼皮，双眼皮 p7# 134

Day 10 加分，预录取，分数线，志愿 p7 #124

Day 9 高考，冲刺，倒计时，平常心 p6 #110 (最后一搏 #119）

Day 8 黄牛，倒票，实名制，抽查，改签 p5 #85 (春运 #91丨查票 #102丨检票 #105丨无人售票，售票员，检票口 #107丨作秀 #108丨逃票 #109）

Day 7 石头剪刀布，耍赖，不算，三局两胜 p4 #71 (输不起 #76)

Day 6 插头、两眼/三眼插头，插座，接线板 p3 #57 (扩音设备/扩音器，墙壁插座/入墙插座/固定插座 #66)

Day 5 宅男、宅女，剩男、剩女 p3 #45 (老处女，单身汉 #50)

Day 4 团购，包邮，秒杀 p3 #42

Day 3 哄，生闷气，甜言蜜语 p2 #30 (偏不/就不 #37丨不理 #83）

Day 2 情侣衫，撞衫 p1 #11 （母子衫/母女衫 #13 ）

Day 1 裸考，裸婚 p1#1 （临时抱佛脚 #8丨未婚先孕，生米煮成熟饭，婚姻包办，闪婚，奉子成婚 #19丨傍大款，建立在金钱基础上的婚姻 #29丨门当户对 #40）

Today's words:

Day 1

裸考 luo3 kao3 v.

裸 means nude or naked. 考 ,of course, means exam. 裸考 is a popular Chinese expression which means that someone takes an exam without preparing for it at all. For example: 明天就要考试了，没时间准备，只能裸考了。

Updated on June 7th (Day 9): Another meaning of 裸考 (as the following picture shows) is to take an exam without preferential bonus points or 加分 jia1 fen1. For more information on 加分, you don't want to miss Day 10.

another expression concerning 裸

裸婚 luo3 hun1 v. (two people getting married without much material condition, that's without cars, houses or even a wedding) eg. 他们一大学毕业，就裸婚了。

So, how do you express the two terms in English? Will be Looking forward to your replies. (I'll update a few words again tomorrow if someone replies).

[yaokong]

I believe there is a similar topic already, but anyway, it is nice to learn random new expressions sometimes!

One tip, pinyin is helpful, especially for beginners:

裸考 luo3kao3

裸婚 luo3hun1

Keep going :-)

[Guest realmayo]

Thanks malanting.

For 裸考 the closest English verb I can think of would be "to wing it", although it's not just used for exams.

I've done no work for the exam tomorrow, I'm just going to have to wing it. (Link)

I can't think of a term for 裸婚, probably because the concept doesn't really exist as a point of discussion in the UK.

[imron]

two people getting married without much material condition

This is just called "getting married". As realmayo alluded to, in Western countries there's more of a notion that when a couple gets married, they start out with nothing, and then build up their life together. This is very different from the modern mainland China situation, where the couple (or more notably the groom), is expected to have these things as a prerequisite to getting married.

For getting married without a wedding ceremony, in some contexts you can use the word "elope".

[xiaocai]

Please read this Baidu entry in order to understand more about the implication of the word 裸婚. It is actually becoming more popular in "modern mainland China" and seen by some from the older generations as a sign of being against tradition.

[semantic nuance]

So, 裸考 is of the similar concept like 臨時抱佛腳?

[xiaocai]

Kind of, but I think if you've decided to 裸考 then you are not even going to 抱佛脚.

[malanting]

realmayo

For 裸考 the closest English verb I can think of would be "to wing it", although it's not just used for exams.

Thank you realmayo! Yeah, 裸婚 probably doesn't exit in English-speaking countries.

yaokong

One tip, pinyin is helpful, especially for beginners:

裸考 luo3kao3

裸婚 luo3hun1

I will add pinyin in my later updates.

And to all those who have replied, thank you all. I'll update some expressions in the evening.

semantic nuance

So, 裸考 is of the similar concept like 臨時抱佛腳?

Not exactly. 临时抱佛脚 (lin2 shi2 bao4 fo2 jiao3) is a useful term. It means to cram for an exam when there's not much time left. Say, tomorrow is going to be my English exam, but I always skip lessons. When it's just one day to go, I begin to recite all those new words. That's 临时抱佛脚. If you 裸考, however, you just try your luck, with no preparation at all. So how do you say 临时抱佛脚 in English?

[skylee]

To cram for an exam.

[malanting]

imron

For getting married without a wedding ceremony, in some contexts you can use the word "elope".

Didn't know that elope has this meaning. Thank you.

skylee

To cram for an exam.

Exactly how I would translate it.

[malanting]

All right. Today's words.

Day 2

情侣衫 qing2 lv3 shan1

情侣 means couple or lovebirds and 衫 means clothing. 情侣衫 is the identical clothing that a couple wear (ie, the boy and the girl wear the same clothes or trousers or clothes that makes a pair). Here's an image I found.

Example: 大学校园里到处都能看到穿情侣衫的人。

Speaking of 衫, I also think of 撞衫 (zhuang4 shan1) which is a verb, meaning you meet someone who wears exactly the same (or just a little bit different) clothes as yours.

Example: 今天真郁闷，刚出门就发现和别人撞衫了。

Now, how do you say 情侣衫 and 撞衫 in English? Have you ever 撞衫ed?

[Shelley]

I think this must be something that is very chinese, I have never seen this type of thing in the UK, Canada or the USA ( the 3 countries I have lived in)

Boyfriends and girlfriends would never wear the same clothes, i think if they ever did it would be considered very strange.

As to meeting someone wearing the same or nearly the same clothes would be considered coincidental and nothing more.

If two ladies went to a party or other function wearing the same dress it would be a bit embarassing and then perhaps people would laugh about it a bit and then probably forget about it.

So i don't know of an English equivilent.

I think this topic is a really good idea, keep up the good work.

[malanting]

Shelley

I think this must be something that is very chinese, I have never seen this type of thing in the UK, Canada or the USA

I didn't know that. People here wear 情侣衫 all the time. There's even 母子衫/母女衫 ( for mom and son/daughter).

If two ladies went to a party or other function wearing the same dress it would be a bit embarassing and then perhaps people would laugh about it a bit and then probably forget about it.

Then how would you tell one of your friends your experience? Like "I found someone with the same dress. It's so embarrassing"? Well, I guess there's not a verb equivalent after all.

I think this topic is a really good idea, keep up the good work.

Thank you! I will update only useful vocabulary. (And most words are a bit tricky to translate since cultural difference is often involved.)

[skylee]

Boyfriends and girlfriends would never wear the same clothes, i think if they ever did it would be considered very strange.

They were probably married (no longer boyfriend+girlfriend), but here (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2117577/What-thinking-David-Beckham-cringes-matching-black-leather-Versace-outfits.html) is a photo of Victoria and David Beckham wearing matching Versace leather outfits.

BTW,why are the shortcut buttons above the reply box not working?

[malanting]

Just found a CNN travel article with the title "True love is wearing matching T-shirts". Matching clothing is how they say 情侣衫

Here's the link, for a bit of background

http://www.cnngo.com/shanghai/life/way-chinese-say-love-through-clothes-355601

[icebear]

For getting married without a wedding ceremony, in some contexts you can use the word "elope".

All I can think of with this line of conversation is "shotgun wedding" - when a man/boy has impregnated a women/girl and her family/father force them to get married (shotgun resting in the groom's back during vows, if necessary!). Does such a concept/phrase exist in Chinese?

[Shelley]

The CNN link explains it clearly

This would definatly not happen here in the UK, the boy's friends would laugh at him and say its not very manly and the girl's friends would probably think it was dumb and not very feminine. And what their friends think is important.

I think it is very Chinese and I think its very sweet, shows that they are together. The whole world knows they are together and this is why I think they do it.

[t3rance]

Regarding 撞衫，in America you will see this type of thing with twins. Couples might wear a similar style, but not the exact same outfit. Autonomy and individuality are prized in most western cultures, so its rare to see a love-making work unit of two wearing the same uniform.

[malanting]

icebear

All I can think of with this line of conversation is "shotgun wedding" - when a man/boy has impregnated a women/girl and her family/father force them to get married (shotgun resting in the groom's back during vows, if necessary!). Does such a concept/phrase exist in Chinese?

Well, I don't think there is a phrase describing it in Chinese. We might say 未婚先孕 wei4 hun1 xian1 yun4 (getting pregnant before marriage). There's an idiom 生米煮成熟饭 sheng1 mi3 zhu3 cheng2 shu2 fan4 (roughly, the rice is already cooked, meaning you can't undo the consequences of something already happened.) You can say something like: 那个女孩未婚先孕，两人一看，生米煮成熟饭了，只能结婚。But that doesn't necessarily mean that parents force them to get married. Then I think of 婚姻包办 hun1 yin1 bao1 ban4 (arranged marriage, in which parents call the shots in terms of who you get married with.) For example: 现在都21世纪了，怎么还婚姻包办啊？

There is another word which is quite popular these days. 闪婚 shan3 hun1 , the word means "to get married shortly after two people have met" say, a couple of weeks. 闪 apparently refers to 闪电 or lightning. So the English equivalent might be "flash marriage"?

I've just done some searching and found the term 奉子成婚, which describes the situation you mentioned. But I've never seen this term before.

[malanting]

Shelley

I think it is very Chinese and I think its very sweet, shows that they are together. The whole world knows they are together and this is why I think they do it.

Yeah, it's sort of considered romantic here. Then there's certainly no such thing as "matching cups" or "matching shoes" in the UK? Boys and girls do not own something similar apart from their wedding rings?