做人 vs 造人

[Ian_Lee]

I guess most foreigners would get confused between 做人 and 造人.

Even though 造人 is not a set phrase, the Entertainment page on many newspapers now frequently use this term to poke fun at some celebrities.

In Cantonese, it is even more confusing because 做 and 造 have the same pronunciation.

[eddiewouldgo]

造人 - sometimes can mean making love:wink: - making(producing) human/baby

[semantic nuance]

In The Bible, the translation of 'God creates mankind' is 上帝造人. Apart from making babies, 做人 can mean 'to be a human being' as in 做人很痛苦.(literally meaning--to be a human being is painful.) which means to live is painful. Another phrase combined with these 2 characters, 做 and 造--造做 (or 做作 / 造作 ) mean 'pretension, putting on the air, artificial" . Example: 她很做作, 這湯根本就不燙, 她偏要裝得ㄧ副被燙到的樣子.

Hope it helps!

[HashiriKata]

I can't find any dictionary that gives the sense of "making baby/ making love" for either 做人 or 造人. Do both have this meaning? and are they slang when used in this sense?

(PS: I can understand "上帝造人", but this is not really "making baby" )

[miss_China_so_much]

It's pretty new. Don't think it has been included in any dictionary. It's just a way of joking. Similar sayings is: (弄)出人命. 出人命 actually means "somebody has been killed". But it also means "accidently get pregnant".

I can't find any dictionary that gives the sense of "making baby/ making love" for either 做人 or 造人. Do both have this meaning? and are they slang when used in this sense?

[semantic nuance]

well, 做人 , which means 'make/ create/ produce babies' is used jokingly and it's a bit colloquial. I don't think you'll be able to find it in the dictionary. 做+人=produce/create/make a person. In fact, making love should be 做愛. Instead of 做愛, some would say " 做愛做的事" (to do something you love) as an euphemism.

Hope it helps!

[HashiriKata]

我懂了，谢谢！

[amego]

HiHi another meaning of "做人" is "识趣" "通情达理", "to be tactful".

A:哇!他这个人这样懒惰,为什么老板却这样喜欢他？

B:哎呀，他懂得做人嘛。。。每次在老板面前装勤劳。。。

喂，等一下他们来的时候要会做人，留下好印象。

[Ian_Lee]

做人 , which means 'make/ create/ produce babies' is used jokingly and it's a bit colloquial. I don't think you'll be able to find it in the dictionary. 做+人=produce/create/make a person.

IMO 做人 does not mean to produce a baby.

For instance, if you are 30 yr old, doing only part-time job and stay at your parent's home as a boomerang kid, your father would probably scold you to 學做人, definitely he is not demanding you to produce a baby:roll:

The term 做人 should mean something like the proper behavior of a decent person.

In fact 做 and 造 is sometimes hard to distinguish because both means "to make" in English.

In my opinion, when 做 is applied, it usually has an intangible result, i.e. 做夢 and 做工 while 造 ends in a tangible product, i.e. 閉門造車.

[semantic nuance]

做人 does not mean to produce a baby.

Ian_Lee, your explanation of 做人 is just one of the many explanations. Colloquially, 做人, as I said earlier, is used jokingly to mean produce a baby. It's pretty common here in Taiwan. I don't know if it's commonly used in any other Chinese speaking areas.

Hope it helsp!

[amego]

Originally Posted by Ian_Lee

做人 does not mean to produce a baby.

Ian_Lee, your explanation of 做人 is just one of the many explanations. Colloquially, 做人, as I said earlier, is used jokingly to mean produce a baby. It's pretty common here in Taiwan. I don't know if it's commonly used in any other Chinese speaking areas.

Hope it helsp!

That's right We're talking about slangs and colloquial usages, anyway its also common in Singapore =p

"Eh, 你几时要做人？"