A little game…?

[presumenothing]

It's already TGIF where I am, so 我们来玩玩游戏吧！

Since languages are all about connections, and everyone sees different patterns in the chaos:

Post a bit of vocab below, and I (plus anyone else who wants to play!) will reply with other bits of vocab that feel related to it!

Any shape or size of vocab goes – whether a single character or an idiom, your favourite word or one you just learned.

If you're responding, feel free to add why these words seem related to you! "They're the same shape/sound", or "it's a valid answer to 接龙ing the above", or "it came up together in one line of this show"… anything goes! 放飞创意吧！

Comments

[grayswandir]

A longer phrase with 江湖 as part of it: 人在江湖，身不由己.

Re: 我爱那个！

[sam_gardener]

坐井观天 I like the imagery of this!
坐 -> 座
对号入座 it sounds like take your seat according to your number / put things in their correct place - but also means to take a general comment as a personal attack, assume you are being criticized? I don't know what the story is behind that and I haven't found any explanation (that I understood) when I searched for it, so it sticks in my mind.

Re: 成语

[sam_gardener]

That one is also really nice, and reminds me of 画蛇添足.
(You guys know all the cool dragon chengyu and I just remember the ones with cows and snakes.;)

[presumenothing]

The funny thing about 科 is that you get a bunch of uses corresponding (roughly) to science/sci- in English: 科学、科技、科幻…

…but then you also have 理科/文科/商科 where it's a general suffix for subjects?

Also, another fun-to-me thing: the way certain uses of 大 don't actually mean to imply a size/extent comparison, but just function as a note that Hey This Is A Big Deal (i.e. it's not like there's a 小会 that you need to distinguish this 大会 from XD)

[presumenothing]

I feel like prior to a certain point and/or possibly in certain fields, less attention was paid to sound over meaning (see: 脸书 for literally Facebook) which is a bit of a shame! It's not like you actually think of it as micro+soft in English anyway.

ETA: Just got reminded that Carrefour as 家乐福 exists, which is also delightful.

[trobadora]

I can't play because the moment you said "post a bit of vocab" every single word or expression I've ever known instantly departed my brain. :p (Same thing happened with Wordle at one point - what do you mean five-letter words, I've never heard of any! *headdesk*) But I'm really enjoying reading all the comments on this post, so thank you a lot! ♥

[trobadora]

What show, if you don't mind me asking?

星云 is lovely. :D

[trobadora]

i.e. it's not like there's a 小会 that you need to distinguish this 大会 from XD

Hee! A mini-gathering should absolutely be called a 小会. :D

[trobadora]

LOL! In German, "Miniweich" is a mocking/humorous way of referring to Microsoft. :D

Re: 我爱那个！

[trobadora]

对号入座 is sort of "if the shoe fits", isn't it?

[nnozomi]

I can't play because the moment you said "post a bit of vocab" every single word or expression I've ever known instantly departed my brain.
same here, on the whole. but likewise enjoying reading :)

[trobadora]

Haha, glad it's not just me!

[grayswandir]

A very old Hong Kong show with no English subs, which I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend even if you were into any of those things. XD It's called 天降财神 | The Superpower. Chow Yun-Fat as a very earnest and confused alien was great, but sadly even he and Tony Leung together could not save the plot...

I enjoyed all the sci-fi vocab, though! Another one I loved was meteor shower: 流星雨. Also, alien babies came from test tubes: 试管!

Re: 我爱那个！

[grayswandir]

I hadn't heard the second ("personal attack") meaning of 对号入座. Useful to know!

I learned the other meaning (for numbered seating) from a song, so following up with a word from the next line of the lyrics: 入魔.

[trobadora]

Oh, Chow Yun-Fat AND Tony Leung? A shame they couldn't save the plot, but it sounds like you had fun with it anyway. And yay sci-fi terminology! :D

(What I really want is a Chinese space show set IN space, on a spaceship or something ...)

[grayswandir]

(What I really want is a Chinese space show set IN space, on a spaceship or something ...)

Same, I would love that! For movies there's The Wandering Earth, which apparently was hugely popular, but I watched it and really wanted to like it and... did not. :P

There's supposed to be a sequel out in January, though, so maybe its popularity will eventually lead to some shows with IN SPACE settings...

[trobadora]

Oh, that reminds me that I've been wanting to watch The Wandering Earth for literal years! I was looking forward to it before it became available here, because the trailer looked super relevant to my interests - and then when it did, somehow I totally failed to actually watch it, LOL. *puts it at the top of the list*

Fingers crossed for IN SPACE as a new trend!

[grayswandir]

I'd love to hear your thoughts about it if you watch it! To be fair I did see it under less than ideal circumstances, so I may have been too hard on it. ;D It at least definitely has a lot of IN SPACE in it, and I did find the premise interesting even if wildly implausible. XD And the CGI is great!

[trobadora]

Will do, absolutely! No idea when, but hopefully still this year. *g*

[presumenothing]

江湖川柯南 would, safe to say, be a very different manga XD

Tangent: kinda interesting that while most/all(?) CN speakers probably know what 江 means, it's one of those words that's generally fallen out of modern use aside from a truly impressive number of names – 黄江、长江、浙江、江南、江苏…

[presumenothing]

Went to look up more 谚语s and heh: 人在江湖漂，哪有不挨刀

Definitely checks out against every wuxia plot ever. Also to derail completely into non-ZS music for once, 江湖笑! Such a good song.

[presumenothing]

Ha, I like this one!

Re: 成语

[presumenothing]

Not cows, but 龙马精神 does also feature a horse? XD

[presumenothing]

On reflection I actually have no idea what the 雕 in 雕虫小技 is doing there… but I haven't got the patience to chew Baidu today and it's almost lunchtime, so 花雕酒 it is LOL (aka one of several things that you occasionally see just referred to in recipes as "Chinese cooking wine", thanks for that infuriatingly helpful description!!1!)

Also I had to cheat and look up the other half of that one because I only had a vague impression of it: 远亲不如近邻! Extra relatable in the age of online pocketfriends 🥲

[grayswandir]

Hah, yeah, I actually tried to look up 雕虫 before I posted but eventually gave up. XD It seems to have something to do with seal script, I think.

远亲不如近邻!

Oh, cool, I didn't even know that one had a second half! I wish dictionaries would include those more often...

ETA: Forgot to 接龙 something. I didn't know until I tried to look up 雕虫 that 雕 is also the simplified form of 鵰, so going from there, I just found 一箭双雕, which seems like 一石二鸟 but extra impressive!