Jim Posted September 4, 2021 at 12:57 PM Report Share Posted September 4, 2021 at 12:57 PM 玄关 which came up in a news story about an assault, means the vestibule/hall just inside the front door, though I see an older meaning is the entry to the teachings of Buddhism which seems more obvious; presume former more quotidian use was derived from the latter, maybe jocularly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted September 4, 2021 at 03:29 PM Report Share Posted September 4, 2021 at 03:29 PM I believe the 玄关 is specifically the traditional entrance hall which has a partition wall directly inside the door, to 玄, or 'shroud' outsiders from seeing into the inner area of the house from the street. Thats always how ive thought of it at least, perhaps there is a deeper meaning there! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted September 4, 2021 at 04:50 PM Report Share Posted September 4, 2021 at 04:50 PM On 9/4/2021 at 4:29 PM, Tomsima said: I believe the 玄关 is specifically the traditional entrance hall which has a partition wall directly inside the door, to 玄, or 'shroud' outsiders from seeing into the inner area of the house from the street. Thats always how ive thought of it at least, perhaps there is a deeper meaning there! From the context here it seemed to have been just a standard modern apartment but perhaps it's the sort of fancy-sounding term estate agents borrow then creeps into wider use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedInkstone Posted September 4, 2021 at 06:58 PM Report Share Posted September 4, 2021 at 06:58 PM On 9/4/2021 at 6:50 PM, Jim said: On 9/4/2021 at 5:29 PM, Tomsima said: I believe the 玄关 is specifically the traditional entrance hall which has a partition wall directly inside the door, to 玄, or 'shroud' outsiders from seeing into the inner area of the house from the street. Thats always how ive thought of it at least, perhaps there is a deeper meaning there! Expand From the context here it seemed to have been just a standard modern apartment but perhaps it's the sort of fancy-sounding term estate agents borrow then creeps into wider use Our real estate agent also used that when we were looking for apartments. And I’ve heard it my Chinese teacher say it, when we talked about how to set up a flat in a Chinese manner. Both times it seemed just like a regular word to me, so maybe it was just carried over from its spiritual use and does not denote anything fancy nowadays except that is adheres to the traditional aspect of shrouding off the rest of the apartment? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alantin Posted September 4, 2021 at 08:22 PM Report Share Posted September 4, 2021 at 08:22 PM On 9/4/2021 at 6:29 PM, Tomsima said: I believe the 玄关 is specifically the traditional entrance hall which has a partition wall directly inside the door, to 玄, or 'shroud' outsiders from seeing into the inner area of the house from the street. Thats always how ive thought of it at least, perhaps there is a deeper meaning there! Hmm.. Interesting. That is a common word in Japanese and means the area or room immediately inside the front door of a home where you leave your shoes. Based on a picture search on Google with that Chinese term, it seems to mean close enough the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodford Posted September 24, 2021 at 10:15 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2021 at 10:15 PM This gem showed up in my SRS flashcard review today, and I think it's so fun: 火炎焱燚 Meaning: "Hot (i.e. popular). Emphatic form of 火. (neologism c. 2016)" 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calculatrix Posted September 26, 2021 at 03:49 PM Report Share Posted September 26, 2021 at 03:49 PM I found another one from the same family: 又双叒叕 Meaning: "again and again and again" Are there more of them? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calculatrix Posted September 26, 2021 at 04:13 PM Report Share Posted September 26, 2021 at 04:13 PM Found one more: 人从众? Meaning: "Huge crowd of people" Coooool. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted November 9, 2021 at 01:39 AM Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 at 01:39 AM 老虎机 - slot machine; surprised I'd never encountered that before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publius Posted November 9, 2021 at 02:49 AM Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 at 02:49 AM On 11/9/2021 at 9:39 AM, Jim said: 老虎机 - slot machine; surprised I'd never encountered that before. Probably because gambling is illegal. My impression is it comes from Cantonese. 老虎 because it eats your money so relentlessly. Same vein as the one-armed bandit. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
大块头 Posted November 9, 2021 at 03:02 AM Report Share Posted November 9, 2021 at 03:02 AM On 11/8/2021 at 9:49 PM, Publius said: because it eats your money so relentlessly similar to 油老虎 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted March 5, 2022 at 03:32 AM Report Share Posted March 5, 2022 at 03:32 AM Such simple characters but such a puzzling term. 学区房 https://baike.baidu.com/item/学区房/199664 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balthazar Posted May 20, 2022 at 08:21 AM Report Share Posted May 20, 2022 at 08:21 AM 发展中国家 - developing country A simple word, but my mind automatically extracted 中国 as China which made me take a while to figure out the meaning. Edit: A search for "发展中国家" on Chinese-forums makes it clear that I'm not the first one to be befuddled by this word 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post imron Posted May 21, 2022 at 02:56 AM Popular Post Report Share Posted May 21, 2022 at 02:56 AM There a quite a few phrases like this in Chinese, including the more comical 先进性教育 which was mandatory learning for various government officials several years back. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted May 26, 2022 at 06:15 AM Report Share Posted May 26, 2022 at 06:15 AM The Guardian discusses 摆烂 and 躺平. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/26/the-rise-of-bai-lan-why-chinas-frustrated-youth-are-ready-to-let-it-rot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted May 26, 2022 at 09:18 AM Author Report Share Posted May 26, 2022 at 09:18 AM On 5/20/2022 at 9:21 AM, Balthazar said: Edit: A search for "发展中国家" on Chinese-forums makes it clear that I'm not the first one to be befuddled by this word Welcome to a most exclusive club. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBigZaboon Posted May 26, 2022 at 09:53 AM Report Share Posted May 26, 2022 at 09:53 AM Sorry to be late to the party (postings from the end of 2021) concerning both Japanese and Chinese entrances separated by a partition that disallows moving on a direct line from the vestibule to the interior of the dwelling. Over the years, I've heard from both Japanese and Chinese informants that "spirits" or other non-corporeal entities could only move in straight lines, therefore a partition that prevented such movement was there for protection. In Japan, recently, apartments were often too small to have the space for such shenanigans (genkan with a change in direction required), but the feeling (kimochi), was still there. TBZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realmayo Posted June 10, 2022 at 10:38 AM Report Share Posted June 10, 2022 at 10:38 AM 雅贼 yǎzéi n. thief who steals only books and works of art 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Finster Posted June 27, 2022 at 07:04 PM Report Share Posted June 27, 2022 at 07:04 PM 不管三七二十一勇往直前 = no matter what Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted July 21, 2022 at 04:36 AM Report Share Posted July 21, 2022 at 04:36 AM Saw this in the Guardian of all places today: run 学 : studying how to leave China https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/457951469 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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