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

[malanting]

t3rance

Autonomy and individuality are prized in most western cultures

Individuality, I should have thought of it.

[skylee]

奉子成婚 is quite a common term in HK. 奉子 and 奉旨 are homophones in Cantonese.

[malanting]

skylee

奉子成婚 is quite a common term in HK. 奉子 and 奉旨 are homophones in Cantonese.

Really? Not so in the mainland. The word itself sounds a bit weird (for 4-character words).

[Michaelyus]

裸婚

If I really wanted to express this concept [negatively], I would go for ' "marriage" ' [+ ironic quotation marks]. Slightly more seriously, consider using "a marriage built on nothing" / "a marriage built on nothing practical" (colloquially, usually followed, like in Chinese, with "what are you going to survive on... love!?").

Note: depending on your audience, for all of these concepts that are very difficult to translate into English, it is possible to be really journalistic and just say "what the Chinese call a 'naked marriage' ".

To be honest though, surely it's unlikely that any language would lack this concept, just that it wouldn't express it in the same way.

Intriguingly, the opposite, a "marriage of / for convenience" (with negative implications), is very commonly understood. Chinese translations of this phrase seem very awkward... might there be a better one?

闪婚

Definitely not "flash marriage"! That would have a somewhat different meaning in British slang. The English verbal phrase "to rush into marriage" is one rather basic option; the noun phrase "a whirlwind romance" is another, slightly more vivid (although this one emphasises the 恋爱 more than the 婚姻, but I think that would be more common), and can be used positively or negatively.

[icebear]

Thanks for that, malanting. I especially liked the 闪婚 one; as noted above, I think the best way to describe that in English would be the phrase "they rushed into it/things". Agreed that in the US/West the phrase can be used with either a very negative or positive connotation (usually depending on the results a few years on!).

[yeut]

malanting:

There's even 母子衫 ( for mom and daughter).

I thought 子 means son and not daughter.

[jbradfor]

If I really wanted to express this concept [negatively], I would go for ' "marriage" ' [+ ironic quotation marks]. Slightly more seriously, consider using "a marriage built on nothing" / "a marriage built on nothing practical" (colloquially, usually followed, like in Chinese, with "what are you going to survive on... love!?").

Perhaps "married for love" is the phrase you are looking for?

[xiaocai]

I thought 子 means son and not daughter.

It can also mean daughter sometimes. Like in word 亲子关系. You don't say 亲女, but it doesn't mean that the relationship will not involve daughters. And also in the aforementioned word 奉子成婚, it doesn't mean the marriage will be annulled if the child turns out to be a daughter.

[malanting]

yeut

I thought 子 means son and not daughter.

Sorry. Although 子 sometimes do carry the meaning of both daughter and son, in this case, it's mom and son. 母女 is mom and daughter. I will correct the mistake.

Michaelyus

"a marriage built on nothing" / "a marriage built on nothing practical"

The English verbal phrase "to rush into marriage" is one rather basic option; the noun phrase "a whirlwind romance" is another, slightly more vivid

Thank you so much! Your reply really helps.

"marriage of / for convenience"(with negative implications), is very commonly understood.

I don't think there's an equivalent for that. Does it mean people get married for the sake of money or power? 傍大款 (bang4 da4 kuan3) in Chinese means someone (usually a girl) get married with a rich person. Sort of like looking for a sugar daddy. Then there's 建立在金钱基础上的婚姻 (against 建立在感情基础上的婚姻）。Like: 他们的婚姻是建立在金钱基础上的，两个人根本没有感情。

icebear

as noted above, I think the best way to describe that in English would be the phrase "they rushed into it/things"

Thank you! So you use the verb form.

jbradfor

Perhaps "married for love" is the phrase you are looking for?

Don't we all marry for love?

[malanting]

Day 3

哄 hong3

哄 is a verb, which means to say something that would sooth sb. (usually a baby or your girlfriend). For example, when a baby can't stop crying you do all you can to 哄 him. And when a girl is mad at a boy and won't talk, the boy says something sweet. This is 哄. Example: 孩子又哭了，我去哄哄他。最近和女朋友吵架，以前我都会哄她，但这次偏不，明明是她的错。

When you 哄 your friend (or your parents, or whoever's sulky) it might be because he or she 生闷气(sheng1 men4 qi4). 生气 means to be angry and 生闷气 is a bit different. It means the angry person won't talk. The equivalent I can find in English is being sulky.

So what do you say to appease that person? 甜言蜜语 tian2 yan2 mi4 yu3, sometimes this term may be used in a negative way. Like 男人结婚前总是甜言蜜语，结婚后就原形毕露，别被骗了。But in the following example, it just means sweet talk. 你妈在生闷气呢，还不快用甜言蜜语去哄哄她？

How do you say 甜言蜜语 in English? What about 哄小孩 and 哄女朋友 (I think the two are a bit different even though we just say 哄 in Chinese)? What do you say to 哄 someone who's 生闷气ing?

[prateeksha]

I think this is an awesome, awesome post. Keep up the great work malanting!

[anonymoose]

What does 偏不 mean? 我绝对不会这么做？ Can you give another example?

[skylee]

It means not doing what should be/is expected to be done.

[malanting]

prateeksha

I think this is an awesome, awesome post. Keep up the great work malanting!

Thank you for your support!

anonymoose

What does 偏不 mean? 我绝对不会这么做？ Can you give another example?

It sort of reflects the speaker is stubborn. He or she is asked to do something but won't do it no matter what.

Example: 他让我出去，我却偏不走。 父母要我上大学，但我不喜欢，偏不上。

Any similar expression in English?

[anonymoose]

I don't think there's an exact translation of 偏 in English. Those two sentences I would translate as something like "He tried to make me leave, but I refused" and "My dad wants me to go to university, but I don't want to, so I won't".

I've met this use of 偏 before. I think I was just a bit thrown by the 偏不 not being explicitly followed by a verb. I assume that is just an oral version, right?

[Michaelyus]

I don't think there's an equivalent for that. Does it mean people get married for the sake of money or power? 傍大款 (bang4 da4 kuan3) in Chinese means someone (usually a girl) get married with a rich person. Sort of like looking for a sugar daddy. Then there's 建立在金钱基础上的婚姻 (against 建立在感情基础上的婚姻）。Like: 他们的婚姻是建立在金钱基础上的，两个人根本没有感情。

It is usually about money and social conformity (and pleasing parents and friends)' date=' but it is without much passion. It is not getting married specifically for money though. It is more to do with social advancement, and is very well understood here because of the historic British class system. But a marriage of convenience is not necessary full of conflict either: it is usually mutually advantageous, just not as "noble" as marriage should be. So it's not usually positive, but does not usually merit the type of negativity that 傍大款 would get.

政略婚姻 covers the "strategic" aspect nicely, and I would probably use this most often. 在金钱基础的 is included in the meaning, but lacks the social element and I don't think it is explicitly nonchalant enough.

哄 - this is a really hard one! "Soothe" and "coax" (the latter needs an extra verbal clause, like a verbal complement) are the 'simple' translations, covering the 安慰 and 使 aspects of the meaning of 哄 respectively. But there really is no single translation for this word.

"Get [him/her'] to calm down" is the usual colloquial equivalent when dealing with adults. The verbal phrase "make up with [him/her]" is the most usual way of describing it between boyfriend and girlfriend in colloquial British English though (of my generation at least), but that emphasises the reconciliation. If used in a negative way (你别哄我) "baby-talk" can be used, but I don't think most situations allow it to be that specific; people just say "don't talk to me". ["to talk to" is very idiomatically English and covers several Chinese situations]

"Soothe" works for babies, but (and this may be a cultural thing again) the most common way to describe the situation is "get [him/her] to keep quiet" / "get [him/her] to shush" / "get [him/her] to hush", something included in the Chinese but only forms a part of its meaning. That area is the one most emphasised in colloquial (southern) British English, anyway. "To hush [him/her]" is a bit stronger: I don't know if that's too strong for 哄. Something that might be even 'colder' but more professional is "to handle children", especially when referring to it as a skill, e.g. 他很会哄孩子. Formally, "to pacify" could be used as well.

The use of 哄 with employers, parents and those in authority is a whole other field. "To tease... into", "to sweet-talk... into", even "to get... to".

So the most common translation overall is "to get... to [verb]".

I'm using http://www.jukuu.com to "scout out" the semantic fields of the Chinese.

For 偏不, for me the idiomatically closest English is "just" + [auxiliary verb] + "not". E.g. "but this time I just didn't [comfort her]" (the main verb and object is usually repeated in English, but not always). Choice of auxiliary verb is highly variable. A harsher meaning can be gained by using "to just refuse to".

[malanting]

anonymoose

I've met this use of 偏 before. I think I was just a bit thrown by the 偏不 not being explicitly followed by a verb. I assume that is just an oral version, right?

Yeah, you can use 我偏不/我就不 like a sentence as a refusal to anything you're asked to do. But "I refused" is not as strong as 我偏不. 我便不 gives you a feeling of defiance.

[malanting]

Michaelyus

So the most common translation overall is "to get... to [verb]

Thank you! I lack a native speaker's sense of language and would try to find an equivalent. Your reply opens a new way of thinking for me. What about 生闷气? Is my translation "being sulky" correct? And 甜言蜜语？(Well I noticed you used sweet-talk as a verb, so 用甜言蜜语哄 becomes sweet-talk sb. into... Right?)

政略婚姻 covers the "strategic" aspect nicely, and I would probably use this most often. 在金钱基础的 is included in the meaning, but lacks the social element and I don't think it is explicitly nonchalant enough.

政略婚姻 or 政治婚姻 sounds a term in history books to me. (More like a jargon rather than a common usage). Now I understand what marriage of convenience means. It's a tricky one, even harder than translating 哄. Maybe something like 他们的婚姻没有感情基础？or 他们结婚就是为了互相利用？

没有感情基础 is the closest one I can think of.

[anonymoose]

Well, you could say something like "He tried to make me leave, but I wouldn't", which kind of has a feeling of defiance. If you want to make it stronger, you could say "He tried to make me leave, but I absolutely wouldn't". However, I don't know if that really is the same as 他让我出去，我却偏不走。 I think it is maybe more like 他让我出去，我却死活不走。

[malanting]

Michaelyus

It is usually about money and social conformity

Speaking of which I think of 门当户对 men2 dang1 hu4 dui4 , your Chinese seems quite good, surely you've heard it before? It refers to two people are of similar social and economic status hence suitable to get married. Then we can say 他们并不喜欢对方，结婚仅仅是因为门当户对。