Jump to content
Chinese-Forums
  • Sign Up

Word of the Day project 每日一词计划 (Day 12 updated)


malanting

Recommended Posts

I believe there is a similar topic already, but anyway, it is nice to learn random new expressions sometimes!

One tip, pinyin is helpful, especially for beginners:

裸考 luo3kao3

裸婚 luo3hun1

Keep going :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks malanting.

For 裸考 the closest English verb I can think of would be "to wing it", although it's not just used for exams.

I've done no work for the exam tomorrow, I'm just going to have to wing it. (Link)

I can't think of a term for 裸婚, probably because the concept doesn't really exist as a point of discussion in the UK.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

two people getting married without much material condition

This is just called "getting married". As realmayo alluded to, in Western countries there's more of a notion that when a couple gets married, they start out with nothing, and then build up their life together. This is very different from the modern mainland China situation, where the couple (or more notably the groom), is expected to have these things as a prerequisite to getting married.

For getting married without a wedding ceremony, in some contexts you can use the word "elope".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

realmayo

For 裸考 the closest English verb I can think of would be "to wing it", although it's not just used for exams.

Thank you realmayo! Yeah, 裸婚 probably doesn't exit in English-speaking countries.

yaokong

One tip, pinyin is helpful, especially for beginners:

裸考 luo3kao3

裸婚 luo3hun1

I will add pinyin in my later updates.

And to all those who have replied, thank you all. I'll update some expressions in the evening.

semantic nuance

So, 裸考 is of the similar concept like 臨時抱佛腳?

Not exactly. 临时抱佛脚 (lin2 shi2 bao4 fo2 jiao3) is a useful term. It means to cram for an exam when there's not much time left. Say, tomorrow is going to be my English exam, but I always skip lessons. When it's just one day to go, I begin to recite all those new words. That's 临时抱佛脚. If you 裸考, however, you just try your luck, with no preparation at all. So how do you say 临时抱佛脚 in English?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All right. Today's words.

Day 2

情侣衫 qing2 lv3 shan1

情侣 means couple or lovebirds and 衫 means clothing. 情侣衫 is the identical clothing that a couple wear (ie, the boy and the girl wear the same clothes or trousers or clothes that makes a pair). Here's an image I found.

515_thumb_G_1274406013962.gif

Example: 大学校园里到处都能看到穿情侣衫的人。

Speaking of 衫, I also think of 撞衫 (zhuang4 shan1) which is a verb, meaning you meet someone who wears exactly the same (or just a little bit different) clothes as yours.

Example: 今天真郁闷,刚出门就发现和别人撞衫了。

Now, how do you say 情侣衫 and 撞衫 in English? Have you ever 撞衫ed? :mrgreen:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this must be something that is very chinese, I have never seen this type of thing in the UK, Canada or the USA ( the 3 countries I have lived in)

Boyfriends and girlfriends would never wear the same clothes, i think if they ever did it would be considered very strange.

As to meeting someone wearing the same or nearly the same clothes would be considered coincidental and nothing more.

If two ladies went to a party or other function wearing the same dress it would be a bit embarassing and then perhaps people would laugh about it a bit and then probably forget about it.

So i don't know of an English equivilent.

I think this topic is a really good idea, keep up the good work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shelley

I think this must be something that is very chinese, I have never seen this type of thing in the UK, Canada or the USA

I didn't know that. People here wear 情侣衫 all the time. There's even 母子衫/母女衫 ( for mom and son/daughter).

If two ladies went to a party or other function wearing the same dress it would be a bit embarassing and then perhaps people would laugh about it a bit and then probably forget about it.

Then how would you tell one of your friends your experience? Like "I found someone with the same dress. It's so embarrassing"? Well, I guess there's not a verb equivalent after all.

I think this topic is a really good idea, keep up the good work.

Thank you! I will update only useful vocabulary. (And most words are a bit tricky to translate since cultural difference is often involved.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Boyfriends and girlfriends would never wear the same clothes, i think if they ever did it would be considered very strange.

They were probably married (no longer boyfriend+girlfriend), but here (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2117577/What-thinking-David-Beckham-cringes-matching-black-leather-Versace-outfits.html) is a photo of Victoria and David Beckham wearing matching Versace leather outfits.

BTW,why are the shortcut buttons above the reply box not working?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For getting married without a wedding ceremony, in some contexts you can use the word "elope".

All I can think of with this line of conversation is "shotgun wedding" - when a man/boy has impregnated a women/girl and her family/father force them to get married (shotgun resting in the groom's back during vows, if necessary!). Does such a concept/phrase exist in Chinese?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The CNN link explains it clearly :)

This would definatly not happen here in the UK, the boy's friends would laugh at him and say its not very manly and the girl's friends would probably think it was dumb and not very feminine. And what their friends think is important.

I think it is very Chinese and I think its very sweet, shows that they are together. The whole world knows they are together and this is why I think they do it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Regarding 撞衫,in America you will see this type of thing with twins. Couples might wear a similar style, but not the exact same outfit. Autonomy and individuality are prized in most western cultures, so its rare to see a love-making work unit of two wearing the same uniform.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

icebear

All I can think of with this line of conversation is "shotgun wedding" - when a man/boy has impregnated a women/girl and her family/father force them to get married (shotgun resting in the groom's back during vows, if necessary!). Does such a concept/phrase exist in Chinese?

Well, I don't think there is a phrase describing it in Chinese. We might say 未婚先孕 wei4 hun1 xian1 yun4 (getting pregnant before marriage). There's an idiom 生米煮成熟饭 sheng1 mi3 zhu3 cheng2 shu2 fan4 (roughly, the rice is already cooked, meaning you can't undo the consequences of something already happened.) You can say something like: 那个女孩未婚先孕,两人一看,生米煮成熟饭了,只能结婚。But that doesn't necessarily mean that parents force them to get married. Then I think of 婚姻包办 hun1 yin1 bao1 ban4 (arranged marriage, in which parents call the shots in terms of who you get married with.) For example: 现在都21世纪了,怎么还婚姻包办啊?

There is another word which is quite popular these days. 闪婚 shan3 hun1 , the word means "to get married shortly after two people have met" say, a couple of weeks. 闪 apparently refers to 闪电 or lightning. So the English equivalent might be "flash marriage"?

I've just done some searching and found the term 奉子成婚, which describes the situation you mentioned. But I've never seen this term before. :P

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shelley

I think it is very Chinese and I think its very sweet, shows that they are together. The whole world knows they are together and this is why I think they do it.

Yeah, it's sort of considered romantic here. Then there's certainly no such thing as "matching cups" or "matching shoes" in the UK? Boys and girls do not own something similar apart from their wedding rings?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Guest
Click here to reply. Select text to quote.

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...