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

[presumenothing]

My word: 江湖!

(because Zhou Shen's 江湖觅知音 is currently set as my alarm, heh)

[petrea_mitchell]

Here's something to do with why I'm learning Chinese: 科幻大会

世界科幻大会！

[sam_gardener]

成都市。你要去吗？

I always think of this song

[nnozomi]

I went to 东京 this week and realized that China has the 江湖 while Japan had 江户...

[elwinfortuna]

I picked this bit out by ear in Love Between Fairy and Devil just now and it amused me: 可笑!

[elenothar]

I'm going with 龙飞凤舞, which I just came across because I was googling dragon chengyu for Reasons (TM) and I just really liked the mental image of applying that to calligraphy.

成语

[sam_gardener]

群龙无首 - because it's the only dragon chengyu I know （ 我真喜欢龙飞凤舞 ）

[grayswandir]

Oh wow, that's really cool.

The word/term it makes me think of is 舞刀, I guess because of the similar use of 舞 to suggest sweeping movements and flourishes.

[grayswandir]

My first thought was 好笑, but that might be too obvious, so I'll go with one of my favorite 可 words, 可爱. :)

[grayswandir]

One of my favorites: 對牛彈琴.

我爱那个！

[sam_gardener]

九牛一毛 So many cow chengyu!

Re: 我爱那个！

[reshiel]

I will try 接龙，毛骨悚然

[reshiel]

Following the 可 pattern, 可口可乐！It was once brought up in class as an example of good brand localization: it sounds like the original name, and also evokes 'delicious' and 'enjoyable'.

Re: 我爱那个！

[sam_gardener]

Further 接龙， 然而不然

[presumenothing]

Ha, this one comes along with 班门弄斧 in my head for some reason (and further on to 隔岸观火, in the vein of "doing this thing in this place" format)

[presumenothing]

It's a satisfyingly dramatic image! Related-ish: 龙凤胎, purely because also 龙 and 凤.

Tangentially, calligraphy makes me think of 文房四宝 aka 笔墨纸砚, and also 永 containing all the strokes ever.

[presumenothing]

宜家 for IKEA is a favourite of mine! I do like it when they get the jackpot of both sound and meaning.

Re: 成语

[presumenothing]

Another one – 画龙点睛!

[presumenothing]

Conversely, you have 武术 with 武 to specify "this is an art that will Kick Your Ass" XD

[presumenothing]

Literal parallel from the English construction! (laugh+able, 可+笑)

Related: 可喜可贺、可悲、可怜……

[reshiel]

!! Chinese sci-fi, by any chance? ♥ I have only scraped the surface but I've loved what I've read and watched so far.

In that theme, I'll go with 恒星, a more scientific term for 'star'. (+1: 冥王星 our dearly departed (from planetary status) Pluto.)


* Edited to add: I have since learned where worldcon is happening next year *facepalm* If you go, safe travels!

[reshiel]

Ooh 宜家 is inspired and I love it!

On the topic of brand names, it took me way too long to figure out what 微软 was.

Re: 我爱那个！

[reshiel]

#放弃 :') 这个字好难...

(I hadn't known of 然而不然 before this, so going off of that - it reminded me of 坐井观天, where one only sees a part instead of the full picture or the truth?)

[grayswandir]

Okay I have to reply to both of these. XD The first one was new to me, but when I looked it up what it reminded me of was 雕虫小技.

And for the second one, 远水不救近火.

[grayswandir]

Oh, I just recently learned a bunch of 天文学 vocab from a sci-fi show. :D (Didn't learn Pluto, though!)

I really like the word for nebula, 星云.