Random new word of the day

[trien27]

千金 = daughter

This used to be used for girls/unmarried young women from wealthy families in ancient China [usually the fathers were businessmen: 金 = a rare & precious metal, therefore 千金 = extremely precious (it's really impossible to get a thousand pieces of gold, unless you're the Emperor or were given that amount by the Emperor)].

[Lu]

矯情 jiao3qing2 做作, making a fuss when it's actually not the other person's problem.

(At least that's how it was explained to me.)

[jbradfor]

同妻 -- heterosexual wife of a homosexual man.

Source: http://shanghaiist.com/2010/03/19/word_of_the_day_tongqi_the_wives_of.php

Seems especially apropos given the argument over here.

[Hofmann]

腦殘 (nao3 can2)

brain dead (not literally). This is an insult, or inflammatory description.

通常也縮寫為NC,指讓人感到匪夷所思的類型，如同腦袋殘疾一般.泛指做事火星,通常無可救藥的人。

　動漫領域

　　1.指不用腦袋思考便可以完成的事情

　　2.火星人的想法、做法

　網絡流行語

　　1.對非主流,哈韓,哈日的稱謂

　　2.對與大眾觀念，思想，想法，行為做對、相反的人的稱呼

[Token_287]

恐婚症, "kong3hun1zheng4," "fear of marriage, fear to commit [to marriage]." I saw this on a random forum.

[atitarev]

沙皇 (shāhuáng) - tsar/tzar, a Slavic king. The first part 沙 is phonetic, from the Russian "царь" (tsar'). Note that in Slavic languages (often spelled as "car" - Polish, Czech, Croatian, etc.), there is no [z] sound but [ts], as in German Zar, Zentrum (Tsar, Tsentrum)) or Japanese 津波 (つまに, tsunami).

[roddy]

Hmmm, I'm a bit behind here . . .

搁浅, gēqiǎn, to run aground.

[trien27]

揶揄, yéyú = ridicule; deride

Source: Various online news articles of the death of 狄娜:

One is Wikipedia: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8B%84%E5%A8%9C

Edited April 3, 2010 at 01:39 AM by trien27

[trien27]

恐婚症

This is shortened from 結婚恐懼症 [Traditional Chinese] / 结婚恐惧症 [simplified Chinese], jiéhūnkǒngjùzhèng, but somehow when they abbreviated it to 婚恐症, it doesn't sound right, so it was switched to 恐婚症, which sounds better and is probably more grammatically correct in Chinese.

結婚 [Traditional Chinese] / 结婚 [simplified Chinese], jiéhūn = to get married

恐懼 [Traditional Chinese] / 恐惧 [simplified Chinese], kǒngjù = fear

症, zhèng = disease

結婚恐懼症 / 结婚恐惧症 = Gamophobia in English from Greek, meaning "Fear of marriage"

Edited April 3, 2010 at 02:05 AM by trien27

[roddy]

多士炉， duōshìlú - toaster. See also 烤面包机。And 土司炉。And 吐司炉。I'll just have bread, thanks.

[Shi Tong]

烤面包机.. I was thinking this was wrong, but I knew I'd heard it ;)

Now I gotta think of something unusual for this.. how about other cookers:

瓦斯炉, (gas hob) wǎ​sīlú​, 微波炉 (microwave) wēi​bō​lú​.. in Taiwan they use wei2.

One of my favorite things about 微波炉 is that wēi means tiny / miniature / profound / abtruse / to decline / one millionth part of / micro- / (Taiwan pr. wei2) and bō​ means wave / ripple / storm / surge.

So it still sounds like a translation of microwave (with the wei at the start), but also manages to mean the same thing!!

[atitarev]

shadowing (language learning technique):

鹦鹉学舌 (yīngwǔ xuéshé) (also can have a negative connotation "to parrot", synonym: 人云亦云 (rényúnyìyún) to say what everyone says, to be a yes-man)

影子跟读 (yǐngzǐgēndú)

[skylee]

暴骨朵 from this thread.

According to xiaocai, it refers to the state of “小荷才露尖尖角”. According to CrisPal, the term is very common in the North.

[trien27]

多士炉， duōshìlú - toaster. See also 烤面包机。And 土司炉。And 吐司炉。

多士 / 土司 / 吐司 = different ways of writing the same thing according to Cantonese: toast [a piece of bread put through a toaster]. 炉 = stove / range.

烤面包机。= Modern descriptive translation of "toaster" in Chinese.

微波炉

= direct translation from English into Chinese, using the scientific term "micro" from Greek μικρός[mikrós, = "small" in Greek.], whereas in Chinese 微, wei = tiny. 炉 = stove / range.

瓦斯炉, (gas hob) wǎ​sīlú​,

瓦斯 = 从日语转译的英语词。气体，特指煤气、沼气等可燃气体。

Edited April 8, 2010 at 11:59 PM by trien27

[roddy]

板上钉钉， bǎnshàngdìngdīng, to be finalized. Note the different tones on the verb and noun 钉. I like that one.

[Scoobyqueen]

耳塞 and 眼罩，two essential items if you are in a noisy hotel recovering from jetlag.

I could not find these two items in any of the big department stores, only happened to stumble across them accidentally in a make-up store in Beijing.

Ask for them on your way to China on the plane is the easiest way.

[jbradfor]

牛仔褲 -- niú​zǎi​kù​ -- jeans

Came across it looking up 仔, and was going HUH? :wub: "cow" "child" "pants". Did something think it was made of calf-skin? Then I looked further and realized that "牛仔" is cowboy, and it all made sense.

牛仔 for cowboy is also kind of funny, now that I think about it.

[roddy]

How's this for concise: 防总, fángzǒng, Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters. The full Chinese is 国家防汛抗旱总指挥部办公室.

[jbradfor]

"Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters". Why do I find that funny? I can see their high-level meetings now. "More water!" "Less water!" "More water!" "Less water!" "More water!" "Less water!" [sorry, I know it's not a laughing matter to anyone affected by floods or droughts....]

[trien27]

牛仔褲 -- niú​zǎi​kù​ -- jeans

牛仔 for cowboy is also kind of funny, now that I think about it.

牛仔 is from Cantonese and means "cowboy". 仔 = "boy" in Cantonese, therefore "牛仔" is somewhat of a direct translation into Cantonese. "牛仔" could also mean "calf/calves" literally , "young ox(en)/bull(s)".

牛仔褲 = probably just a description and has nothing to do with cowboys' clothing whatsoever. Nice mnemonic for remembering it though. Possibly first used to translate "denim jeans" from "serge de Nimes" via French.

仔 doesn't = zǎi in Mandarin. "zǎi" = borrowed from Cantonese. Normally, 仔 = zǐ, most possibly taken from 子.

Sources: I speak Cantonese & Mandarin, & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denim#Notes

耳塞 and 眼罩

耳塞 = earplugs/ ear plugs

眼罩 = eyeshades; eye patches