sfr@rcn.com Posted June 13, 2004 at 09:21 PM Report Share Posted June 13, 2004 at 09:21 PM My Chinese teacher and I were trying to figure out a term for the *wife* of my daughter. For now, we're calling her xi2fu4 (son's wife), but, as my Chinese teacher pointed out, she hasn't lived in China for fifteen years or more. Surely, by now, modern Chinese have created new words for these new situations. If so, what? And what process do people use to create these new words? And how well are they accepted? And what other neologisms might be of interest to this forum? Thanks, Sandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galitonwu Posted June 14, 2004 at 01:53 AM Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 at 01:53 AM xi2fu4 is wife. son's wife is er2xi2. If you make this mistake in public place, then your son's wife mybe become angry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfr@rcn.com Posted June 14, 2004 at 04:06 AM Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 at 04:06 AM Since I have only daughters, I don't have to worry about my son's wife. Thank heavens, since in the U.S., the mothers of the mothers take care of the grandchildren (mostly), not the mothers of the fathers. But thanks for setting me straight about xi2fu4--I really did think that xi2fu4 meant er2xi2. So, that means that if I call my daughter's wife xi2fu4, I need to say my daughter's xi2fu4, dui4 bu2 dui4? Sandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galitonwu Posted June 14, 2004 at 05:09 AM Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 at 05:09 AM your daughter's wife? maybe your daughter's husband. son's wife = er2xi2 daughter's husband = nv 3 xu 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quest Posted June 14, 2004 at 05:26 AM Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 at 05:26 AM neologisms for neogamy/neogyny, galitonwu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alleluia Posted June 14, 2004 at 08:27 AM Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 at 08:27 AM Seems that galitonwu didn't quite get your point... Maybe "daughter's wife" still is a foreign concept even in modern China. Sorry, but I can't help you either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted June 14, 2004 at 09:02 AM Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 at 09:02 AM How about 我女儿的伴侣/爱人 (my daughter's partner/spouse)? A son-in-law (女婿) is also called 半子 (half-son). I wonder if you could call her 半女 (half-daughter) (now I have never heard of it but a new situation may require the invention of a new term.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galitonwu Posted June 14, 2004 at 09:45 AM Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 at 09:45 AM It is too difficult to understand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfr@rcn.com Posted June 14, 2004 at 06:47 PM Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2004 at 06:47 PM Galitonwu--which one is too hard to understand? I like half-daughter. It's simple and gets everyone off the hook. I think I'm asking this question a few years too soon. Sorry. But, in addition to wanting to know how to introduce my daughter's partner to my Chinese-speaking friends, I'm also fascinated by neologisms in Chinese as well as English. They say a lot about the culture as a whole. Thanks skylee, galitonwu and Alleluia. Sandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galitonwu Posted June 15, 2004 at 10:56 AM Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 at 10:56 AM I don't know what means "daughter's wife" now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geraldc Posted June 15, 2004 at 04:24 PM Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 at 04:24 PM 同性恋女子 With new words, I think quite a few new words come from Hong Kong Cantonese. e.g. "cookie" 曲奇which started off in Cantonese but apparently is now used in Mandarin too, but now no longer sounds like the word cookie. 电脑 was a Cantonese term for computer that just became the norm etc. But then you get terms like karaoke which started of as Japanese, and now you see written in a mixture of Chinese and English. I guess the people who have the real power regarding creation of new words are the media. If no one hears or sees a new word, it will never be accepted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Yau Posted June 15, 2004 at 04:37 PM Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 at 04:37 PM I can't see why it is so difficult to understand that. I think you can simply call her "nu3-er2" (daughter), the same way to call your real daughter. In china, it's common for a father-in-law to call a son's wife "daughter", or "Half daughter" (Ban4 ge nu3 er2). Xi-Fu is equally good. In fact, there's no any formal word for "daughter's wife" (neither in english or french, i guess). You can just take the traditional term to the new situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfr@rcn.com Posted June 15, 2004 at 08:12 PM Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2004 at 08:12 PM You guys are right. I'm complicating a perfectly simple term. Right now, I tell people "I'm her po2po mother-in-law." But daughter or half-daughter would probably make both my daughter and her partner happy. Galitonwu--is it that you are confused by a woman having a wife instead of a husband? My daughter lives with a woman, not a man. (I'm trying to keep these words neutral in case there's some censorship or filtering bot snooping around.) And, in San Francisco, at least for now, same sex couples may marry. So, I have a daughter who has a wife, not a husband. Thanks, guys. Sandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
galitonwu Posted June 16, 2004 at 02:11 AM Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 at 02:11 AM Thanks, I see now. Thare are many same sex couples in China . And lots of Chinese could accept same sex couples now. But little of same sex couples said ,"I am homoerotism. " or someone said " my son(daughter) is homoerotism". Just a misunderstand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benotnobody Posted July 6, 2004 at 07:38 AM Report Share Posted July 6, 2004 at 07:38 AM Just sidetracking from the same-sex terminology discussion... I think neologisms have been handled very well in Chinese on the whole. Most of them are very logical. eg: 电话 (lit. "electric speech"), 电影 ("electric shadow"). But some of the transliterations sound a bit cheesy, esp. 保龄球. Btw, does anyone know of any transliterations in Chinese that come from languages other than english? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted July 6, 2004 at 01:10 PM Report Share Posted July 6, 2004 at 01:10 PM 卡啦OK ... I thought 電話 was an import from Japanese "denwa" ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claw Posted July 6, 2004 at 04:42 PM Report Share Posted July 6, 2004 at 04:42 PM Actually there are several words in Chinese that are directly imported from the Japanese kanji equivalents, such as 科學 (kagaku), and 經濟 (keizai). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benotnobody Posted July 7, 2004 at 08:43 AM Report Share Posted July 7, 2004 at 08:43 AM I thought 電話 was an import from Japanese "denwa" Actually, I thought the Japanese 電話 denwa would have been imported from Chinese. Chinese has had a fairly major influence on Japanese, especially with 漢字. Although you'd probably know a lot more about this than I do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ananda Posted July 7, 2004 at 09:27 AM Report Share Posted July 7, 2004 at 09:27 AM xi2fu4 is wife. son's wife is er2xi2. If you make this mistake in public place, then your son's wife mybe become angry. no, xi2fu4's original meaning is son's wife, its meaning gradually changed to your wife, but the original meaning still works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Posted July 9, 2004 at 04:00 PM Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 at 04:00 PM Galiton, the term is homosexual (or gay/lesbian), 'homoerotism' sounds a bit strange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and select your username and password later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.