[PW] Chinese Expressions

[Hadden, Robert L ERDC-TEC-VA]

Dear Peter Ingerman:
	In English, we can use a noun or verb as an adjective to describe a
unique feature. Such a feature might be called "a rocky coast". If the waves
crash and spray over the rocks, then it might be a "boomer shore" or a
"wave-pounder". If it is a dangerous rocky coast, then it might be called
"ship hungry" or "a saw tooth" or a "keel grabber". In short, there are
millions of expressions in English that can describe such a feature. There is
not one term, but many, and are usually easily understood. Usually.
	And indeed, much of the humor of English is hearing how children and
non-native English speakers try describe something new.
	In Chinese, it is rather easy to explain common concepts, especially
those that are timeless. Wave, ship, ox, cart, man, woman, street, crop, run,
jump, love, hate, etc. Most concepts used today can be still be read on
ancient tombs by native speakers. Unlike English and Western languages, the
Chinese symbols haven't changed much.
	However, it is more difficult to develop an ideogram of new concept.
For example, is you develop a symbol for an "Unidentified Flying Object" or
"UFO", you have to make it readily understood by someone else as to what your
symbol means. Until a consensus is agreed upon, there might be several
symbols used in print or correspondence that are quickly made out of date as
consensus shifts to one winner over several. While English is very adaptable
at developing newly described objects or ideas, more traditional languages
aren't. 
	I'm also not sure how the bizarrely new (2005) idea of the "Church of
the Flying Spaghetti Monster" or "FSM" (see: http://www.venganza.org/) would
be put in Chinese (·ÉÐÐÒâ·ÛÑý¹ÖµÄ½Ì»á) or Japanese (ïwÐÐ¥¹¥Ñ¥²¥Ã¥Æ¥£¥â¥ó¥¹¥¿
©`½Ì»á), much less the symbols for the members of that church, known as the
"Pastafarians". Since the word spaghetti is Chinese in origin and was taken
to Italy by Marco Polo, I guess the Flying Spaghetti Monster would be making
a circuit back to Chinese origins, and use the original Chinese noodle
symbol. Or maybe the symbol for the Italian word, or of the English word
derived from the Italian.


R. Lee Hadden
Geospatial Information Library (GIL)
Topographic Engineering Center
ATTN: CEERD-TO-I (Hadden)
7701 Telegraph Road
Alexandria, VA 22315-3864
(703) 428-9206
Robert.L.Hadden at usace.army.mil

"Curiosity is not a nice virtue- and it never leads to innocence." -Donna
Haraway

See some of my writings, both online and on paper, at my author page at:
http://www.librarything.com/author/haddenrobertlee

-----Original Message-----
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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:05:31 -0400
From: "Peter Zilahy Ingerman, PhD" <pzi at ingerman.org>
Subject: [PW] A Chinese-to-English question
To: list at project-wombat.org
Message-ID: <48791C9B.4080701 at ingerman.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

This is for me ... and a correspondent of mine who is from Taiwan, but at the
moment in France.

She and her husband visited Normandy this weekend, and she describes the
seacoast as "we visit the sea shore~~In chinese, we call it "elephant nose
shore" (the huge rocks in the sea shore are like elephant nose in shape). i
don't know how to explain it more clear.... Do you have any idea about what i
mentioned?".

Well, the image is clear enough ... but is there an English phrase for this?

Peter Ingerman

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