murrayjames Posted October 28, 2019 at 02:56 AM Report Share Posted October 28, 2019 at 02:56 AM I never heard 杯葛 either. 抵制 is the word I usually hear for boycott. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted October 28, 2019 at 02:11 PM Report Share Posted October 28, 2019 at 02:11 PM So obvious once you know the answer, but I had to look it up: 退伍軍人病 Spoiler Legionnaires' Disease 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted October 28, 2019 at 02:18 PM Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2019 at 02:18 PM Quote The disease is named after the outbreak where it was first identified, at a 1976 American Legion convention in Philadelphia.[14] Ha, never knew that. And now I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted October 28, 2019 at 02:37 PM Report Share Posted October 28, 2019 at 02:37 PM Actually, for the Chinese to be obvious I guess you need to know that the American Legion is a veterans' group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted October 31, 2019 at 04:10 AM Report Share Posted October 31, 2019 at 04:10 AM 满拧 - I'd encountered this a few times before, looked it up and learned it can mean "all wrong", as in "he's got that all wrong" but from the context I just found it in, seems it can sometimes be better translated as "the complete opposite", though presumably there's not a hard and fast distinction in the way it's used natively. Also get the impression it's fairly common but only come across it a few times previously to my recall and this instance today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted October 31, 2019 at 08:45 PM Report Share Posted October 31, 2019 at 08:45 PM 谢顶 - to go bald. From here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted November 1, 2019 at 02:49 AM Report Share Posted November 1, 2019 at 02:49 AM 6 hours ago, imron said: 谢顶 - to go bald. This is weird. I learned this word literally yesterday. From a different novel though, 《茧》 by Zhang Yueran. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted November 4, 2019 at 03:02 PM Report Share Posted November 4, 2019 at 03:02 PM 摊事儿 - get into trouble, 你摊上事了 you've landed yourself in it, you're in big trouble etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted November 6, 2019 at 01:27 AM Report Share Posted November 6, 2019 at 01:27 AM 顺势疗法 https://baike.baidu.com/item/顺势疗法 homeopathy, came up in this story: https://news.163.com/19/1106/00/ET8QPGN00001875P.html where it is noted as being 伪科学 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted November 8, 2019 at 10:07 AM Report Share Posted November 8, 2019 at 10:07 AM 薅羊毛 https://baike.baidu.com/item/薅羊毛/4494833 Organised taking advantage of special offers etc., especially online. Like coupon clipping and sharing deals and promo codes. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted November 10, 2019 at 07:45 AM Report Share Posted November 10, 2019 at 07:45 AM 网民 “netizen." But it may be acquiring a narrower secondary meaning, as in today's 明报： 網民今日（10日）再發起於多區商場進行「和你Shop」行動。 Sort of like 装修 has its own meaning now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murrayjames Posted January 5, 2020 at 07:14 AM Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 at 07:14 AM 爹地 diēdi - daddy After my daughter moved back to China last year, her pronunciation of “daddy” slowly transformed into “diēdi.” She stretches out the second part of diē (dī-EHHH-di). It sounds super cute. It turns out that 爹地 is a recognized transliteration of “daddy.” The ABC Chinese-English Dictionary and CC-CEDICT say diēdì. My daughter says diēdi, leaving the second syllable unaccented like the original English word. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Finster Posted January 5, 2020 at 05:20 PM Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 at 05:20 PM 巡 meaning: to patrol Pinyin: xún also: classifier for "rounds of drinks" ? ( automatically my favourite character ?). Context: 巡回演出 = to tour (concert tour, etc) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mungouk Posted January 5, 2020 at 08:35 PM Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 at 08:35 PM 火炎焱燚 Stumbled across in MDBG somehow. 火炎焱燚 huǒ yán yàn yì hot (i.e. popular) (emphatic form of 火[huo3]) (neologism c. 2016) Does anyone really use this? Interesting character-play... are there more similar words? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted January 5, 2020 at 11:20 PM Report Share Posted January 5, 2020 at 11:20 PM reminds me of this thread: https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/56722-又双叒叕/?tab=comments#comment-439111 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted January 7, 2020 at 01:32 PM Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2020 at 01:32 PM Was double checking characters in a name, and happened to spot 杉篙 - basically a fir pole, but the interesting (sort-of) thing was the alternative pronunciation for 杉, which loses its n in certain compounds. I've never seen that before. Are there any other characters which do similar? Quote shā b.f. fir (pronounced shā only in following compounds) 杉木 ¹shāmù 杉材 ²shācái 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted January 7, 2020 at 10:38 PM Report Share Posted January 7, 2020 at 10:38 PM reminds me of 親(亲) qīn which becomes qìng in 親家, which I only noticed recently and had always just thought it was qīnjia like qīnqi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted January 8, 2020 at 02:38 AM Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 at 02:38 AM Heard this in the wild yesterday: https://www.zdic.net/hans/叫号 Quite logical but never encountered it before AFAIK. Context was swapping empty cooking gas bottle, which is subsidised in this village. Gas company delivered slightly fewer bottles than people had put in to exchange, so full ones were handed out in order of who'd delivered empties first. Glad I got up early and was second on list! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted January 21, 2020 at 02:46 AM Report Share Posted January 21, 2020 at 02:46 AM 糟糠之妻 zāo kāng zhī qī https://www.zdic.net/hans/糟糠之妻 "wife of one's chaff and dregs", the wife who shares your hardscrabble early years with you who you ought not to abandon if you make it big "糟糠之妻不下堂". Came across it in an obit for the founder of Lotte who apparently went off to Japan and did dump his first wife after starting to get on in business. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted January 21, 2020 at 09:37 AM Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2020 at 09:37 AM I like that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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