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Random new word of the day


roddy

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regarding 囊, I just ran across 阴囊。

definition: scrotum.
So there you have it.

 

And the female counterpart is 阴帝.  

 

Funny story on how I know that.  I've got a laowai friend who has the humor of a 14 year old boy.  One day him and I are in Guangdong and he says to me, "Want to see something funny?".  Well of course of do.  

 

Some background for those not familiar with a Chinese 发票 receipt.  When you're at a restaurant you can ask them to give you the official 发票 receipt.  Most of these receipts have a form of a lottery at the top.  You take a coin and scratch off the silver film and see if you win any money.

 

So we get the 发票 receipt and my friend tells the waitress to hold on and starts to look for a coin to scratch off the lottery on the 发票.  He realizes he doesn't have one and turns to the waitress and says, "你有没有阴帝?" Her face turns red and and she doesn't know what to say and he quickly says, “啊,对不起对不起。我的意思是你有没有硬币".

 

They sound close enough that it could be a simple foreigner mistake, but a clear enough difference that you definitely said the wrong one.  I have to admit it was funny.  Turns out I also have the humor of a 14 year old boy.  But since that day I will never forget what the word 阴帝 means.

 

阴帝 (yin1 di4) - clitoris

硬币 (ying4 bi4) - coin

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I also suggest you double-check your knowledge of female anatomy - since when is the clitoris the female counterpart of the scrotum?

 

Anyway, continuing in the vein of "阴" -> "private"...

 

阴茎 - penis

阴道 - vagina

 

(Both formal/medical terms... not gonna post the "vulgar" variants for fear of turning this into a "dirty words thread"... speaking of which, why don't we have a dedicated thread for that purpose?)

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Well-played there.

 

^ The above is the main thing I wanted to post, but I don't feel this is very constructive. As such, my new word is 敷衍. As in, "I'm 敷衍ning by posting this word when I can't think of anything better to post".

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A boring one to act as a cold shower:

 

矿产, kùangchǎn - minerals / mineral resources. In Chinese this includes hydrocarbons, although strictly speaking they aren't minerals. In English in a property ownership context the term also includes hydrocarbons - mineral rights includes natural gas or oil. However, Pennsylvania is a special case, as courts have decided that 'mineral rights' in deeds there do not include shale gas. 

 

 

My morning hasn't all been dull though, I also got to track down some quotes from Li Keqiang's government work report!

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We use those, too.

 

But "nether" has a multiple connotations of Hell (the location), dark, below/beneath and sexual.  阴 has very similar connotations when talking about genitalia, so in light of attempting to be true to both the original language and the target language, I suggested it an option. 

 

Not as an edict.  If "privates" works better in UK English, that's good to know.

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This is one thing I've always wondered. If 陰 is supposed to be "female", and 陽 "male" why does 陰 combine with both male and female anatomy? E.g. 陰蒂 clitoris, 陰囊 scrotum, 陰莖 penis, 陰道 vagina, etc.

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Because 陰 is not supposed to mean "female" in all contexts.  Sometimes it just means "dark" or "hidden" or "secretive" or even "malicious".

 

That's why I think of it as "nether" when speaking of genitalia, because it drops the gender connotation...just like it drops that connotation in Chinese for 陰蒂, 陰囊, 陰莖, 陰道

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