chinese tuesdays

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Chinese Tuesdays: Horses, immediately

 

Yes, I know it is not Tuesday. But I've been travelling, and Chinese Tuesdays is more than a day, it is a state of mind.

You're probably already fed up with new year's good wishes and horse puns (or even more irritating, these little suckers), but they're not going to go away so you might as well learn a few of the better ones to inflict on others. Courtesy of Fuck Yeah Chinese Myths!:

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Chinese Tuesdays: New Year's Eve (of revolution)


Here's an amusing titbit in advance of the Chinese new year that I hope doesn't get the Anthill blocked.

There's been some vexation that this year, the eve of the spring festival (January 30th) is a working day, not a holiday. So a creative homophone has been doing the rounds. That night, new year's eve, is called 除夕 (chúxī – where 夕 xī means "eve"). But with a small substitution you get 除习 (chúxí), which sounds like a shortened version of "除掉 (chúdiào – eliminate) 习近平 (Xi Jinping)" – get rid of Xi. That, the suggestion goes, is why the government isn't keen to celebrate the occasion.

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Chinese Tuesdays: Personality determines destiny

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Chinese Tuesdays: Splitting Pears

 

Why should you never share a pear with your significant other? Because to share/split/ divide a pear in Chinese is 分梨 (fēnlí​), which sounds exactly the same as 分离 (fēnlí), to separate.

So next time you have a pear, don’t offer to split it with anyone, it will be the certain death of your relationship.

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Chinese Tuesdays: Riches every day

This intricate composite character is a combination of 日日有财 (rìrìyǒucái), and means "see riches every day".

It's made up of two 日 (rì – day) on top, 有 (yǒu – have) in the middle, and 财 (cái – wealth) on the right, with the 月 component of 有 forming the 目 component of the traditional version of 见 (jiàn – see), 見. Cleverly, if you double up that 見 it reads 日日有财见 (rìrìyǒucáijiàn).

What's more, if you ignore the 见 radical of 财, it becomes 才 (cái – ability), making the meaning closer to 日日有才见 (rìrìyǒucáijiàn) "learn something new every day". Whichever way, we wish it for Anthilll readers in 2014!

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