Changing words in the changing world

Chinglish story

This column focuses on Chinglish mistakes in our daily life. If you have any experiences to share, send them to Wang Yu at wangyu2008@ynet.com.

By Zhang Dongya

Many words’ meanings mutate over time, and when an erstwhile innocuous definition turns prurient and risqué, user beware!

I have a recent anecdote to illustrate my point. An ex-colleague of mine named Eric, who now works for a daily newspaper, came calling last week asking to interview an English speaker who is proficient in Chinese. He was working on a story about Chinglish slogans – China may have more slogans than any other countries in the world, a stat only matched by the number of mistranslations of said slogans – and he knew that my company had several qualified individuals who could talk on the subject.

Since it was the busiest day of our workweek – “mad Wednesday” – I initially wanted to reject Eric’s request. But I saw him standing at the door of my office, begging, “I just need a few minutes,” so I grudgingly put him in touch with Derrick, an old China hand and the lead copyeditor at Beijing Today.

Derrick took a break from work to fulfill Eric’s request, causing colleagues to get anxious. The copy flow became delayed, and I felt very sorry about it.

Eric’s article came out the next day, along with a thank you from the writer. I passed those regards to Derrick in an email. Still feeling a bit guilty about taking up his time, I used an English idiom I thought might lighten the situation.

“Sorry to disturb you on hump day,” I wrote.

Soon I got this reply: “What is ‘hump day’?”

I remembered the phrase referred to Wednesday, the toughest workday of the week because it fell in the middle, as a “hump” that had to be climbed over.

To my surprise, Derrick told me he had never heard of the phrase, but that it sounded vaguely sexual given the meaning of “hump” as a verb.

Ugh. I’d not thought of this. And when I tried tracing the phrase’s origins and evolution, I hit a dead end.

Derrick told me that how people will understand “hump day” may have much to do with where they are from. While it may be common on the Internet, in southeast Michigan and other parts of the US it is virtually unheard of.

If the 2009 movie Humpday is any indicator, this phrase could be changing its meaning very soon.

It just goes to show that even if you master slang, how it is understood by native speakers may still very greatly.

Strictly Slapstick Chase

Chinglish on the way

This column aims to identify Chinglish in public areas. If you see any Chinglish signs, please send a picture of it to wangyu2008@ynet.com together with your name and address.

By Terry Boyd-Zhang

“Is this an advertisement for a comedian search?” I asked myself when I first saw this sign. “Slapstick” is a type of humor that uses violence and over-the-top illogical situations to win laughter. Slapstick can be seen in the acts of comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Jim Carrey and Mike Meyers, and in cartoons such as Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes. The girl on the sign in the foreground is happy and pensive and the boy beside the small fence in the background, who has lost his pretty hat, is waiting eagerly for his pink balloon to come down so he can hit it again with his nose; they do not seem “slapstick” in the least. What is going on here? Yajin, the first two characters, mean “forbidden.” Zhui, the third character, is “chase” and danao, the last two, mean “to cause trouble.” So let’s plug the thing into nciku, an online Chinese-English dictionary: “strictly forbidden (to) chase or seek a violent, noisy row.” Google translate makes it “non-slapstick chase,” exactly the opposite of where we started. Huh? Over to the native speaker: “Chasing and beating each other is not allowed.” Nciku wins over Google on this one! So, if you are in the park and you feel like chasing and beating your children, but you see this sign, you will have to refrain. Although I believe that chasing your toddler to prevent him or her from playing in traffic would be a valid exception. Another exception might be if you were participating in some type of slapstick routine with your friends. ‘Course, you’d have to be strict about it.

Blacklist

This is a column of words or phrases commonly misused by Chinese speakers. If you’re planning to be an English teacher, reporter or employee of a multinational company, then watch out for this page each week.

1. Though they have very high IQs, they seem to be strangers to modest.

Professor Zhu Shida (ZS): We often say: He is a stranger to me. It means one does not know another person. Thus we have the phrase “stranger to,” followed by a pronoun or a noun.
 
When it means a person out of place or not at home in something, we express it this way: He is strange to the work but will soon learn. It means he is not accustomed to or is unfamiliar with the work. Based on this pattern, it evolves into “no stranger to.” He is no stranger to hard work. You see it is followed by a noun. It means that he is fairly accustomed to or fairly familiar with the work. Anyway, the sample sentence should read: Though they have very high IQs, they seem to be strangers to modesty. It means that they know nothing about how to be modest.

Terry Boyd-Zhang (TBZ): “He is a stranger to me” is also something you say about someone you have broken a relationship with. An arrogant person who brags about how vastly superior in intelligence he or she is to you, for example, may be one you would eventually discontinue any relationship with, treating them as if they were a stranger to you.

2. The renminbi will rub shoulder with the dollar and the euro one day.

ZS: It is fairly difficult for a beginner to make clear phrases involving “shoulder.” Sometimes it is in a singular form and at others it is plural. In this case, we have to say “rub shoulders with” which means: to mingle with, rub elbows with, be on par with or be equal to. I have an example from Vladimir Nabokov: Never have we rubbed shoulders with as many celebrities. So, here we have to say: The renminbi will rub shoulders with the dollar and the euro one day. However, when it comes to the phrase “give the cold shoulder to,” it is in the singular form. Don’t be confused. We usually say: She gives the cold shoulder to her suitor. You never say: She gives the cold shoulders to her suitor. We have another example from the International Herald Tribune: Teachers’ unions give the cold shoulder to the Obama administration.

TBZ: There are several expressions with “shoulder” or “shoulders” in English, as mentioned above. Some other expressions include: shoulder to shoulder (meaning “showing solidarity”), put one’s shoulder to the wheel (“to get to work – and hard!”) and stand head and shoulders above (“taller than everyone else” (literally) or “better than everyone else” (figuratively)). Be careful though – don’t overuse such expressions or your teacher might start to find you clichéd!

3. Slacks

ZS: We often read sports reports in Western newspapers about fans wearing slacks in the bleachers. The word reportedly is a corporate coinage. The Haggar clothing company asserts that in the 1940s, the Haggars, working with ad-man Morris Hite, deliberately coined the word “slacks,” so-called because they were to be worn during leisurely “slack time.” However, the Haggars could not get the patent for this term. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this word dates to 1824 when slacks started to be worn, meaning “loosely cut trousers for informal wear.” Now, in English dictionaries, we have an explanation of slacks as “trousers for casual wear.” Also, it still has something to do with its original meaning of “loose, careless, slow and sluggish.” “Slacks” is another example of linguistic evolution over time.

TBZ: Very interesting! We have slacks, trousers, pants, jeans, cords … then variations like harem pants, hammer pants, tunic pants, pajama pants, hot pants, flood pants … as you can see, I prefer the word “pants,” but “slacks” is fine, too. I think that “pants” is perhaps more general (something long you wear on the bottom) and I feel “slacks” are dressier, more like what you would wear to work (or to church), if you weren’t wearing a dress or a skirt.

English lessons abroad

Chinglish story

This column focuses on Chinglish mistakes in our daily life. If you have any experiences to share, send them to Wang Yu at wangyu2008@ynet.com.

By Wang Yu

People think it’s faster learning a foreign language if you’re living in that country. But as far as I’m concerned, where you live doesn’t matter when you isolate yourself from a particular place’s culture.

My aunt lived in Los Angeles for more than 10 years but she still cannot speak English fluently. Two years ago, she sold her spa in the US and returned to China.

I was always curious how a woman who did not speak English could run a business for so many years. The answer is simple – she lived in a Chinese community. If she needed to deal with Americans, variations of basic sentences could be repeated.

This isn’t just happening within the middle-aged Chinese population. When I was on vacation in England, I saw some Chinese students who rarely got out of their comfort zones. Their English actually got worse – or at least improved at a slower rate than when they were in China.

One day we held a dinner party in the public kitchen of a dormitory. I lived with my friend Amy, who was studying there, and got to know many Chinese students in the school. After finishing dinner, we played mafia. A German student named Alex joined us. To make it easier for him, all of the Chinese students spoke English.

“Well, I think this lady-killer should be Chris. What he said in the last two rounds was quite contradictory,” Alex said.

He pointed at Chris Liu, who was sitting opposite to him. During the game, there is an anonymous “killer” who sits in the crowd that people have to ferret out. Every round the “judge” asks people to close their eyes and let the killer select someone to kill. The mission is to find the killer before everyone “dies.”

“You say it’s a lady killer, but I’m not a lady,” Liu said.

“Ah… by lady-killer, I mean someone who kills ladies. You see, only girls have been kicked out so far,” Alex explained.

“Basic knowledge, isn’t it?” Amy said to me quietly.

The language deficiencies of the Chinese students really became obvious. They had lived in England for two years, but their unwillingness to assimilate to local life really hurt them.

“Actually, the first few months are hard for everyone because you find that all you’ve learned at school is useless,” Amy said. “But I soon started to take it as a good opportunity – if you are in Britain, try to live a British lifestyle. Watch TV, go to the streets, find a part-time job – they all help to improve one’s English.”

“Yes, I agree. Is there anything you can tell me now?” I said.

“You’ve gone bonkers, mate!”

“What? Bankers?”

“No, bonkers. It’s English slang that means you’re crazy. I heard it first from a local boy when I was working in McDonald’s. Then I found on the Internet it first appeared in the early 20th century, meaning ‘light-headed, giddy’ or ‘slightly drunk,’ used by the British navy.”

I kept that in mind. It turns out that talking to locals really will teach you more than any book.

Get an Electric Shock Carefully

This column aims to identify Chinglish in public areas. If you see any Chinglish signs, please send a picture of it to wangyu2008@ynet.com together with your name and address.

By Terry-Boyd Zhang

When first learning Chinese, at least for me, there seemed to be many words that were repetitive or unnecessary. Knowing more now, I appreciate the clarity and consideration that these words bring to everyday life. Take this sign for example: Get an electric shock carefully. It is a kind and gentle person who posted this sign for your benefit. Getting an electric shock is not something to be taken lightly. My dad used to have a Taser-like object for getting livestock onto the truck and, boy, you didn’t want to be swinging that thing around carelessly! (Barbaric, you say? He had one; I don’t recall him ever using it on the animals.)

Also, wrapping your car around a hydro-pole in the middle of a downpour or bathing with your laptop are both bad ideas – not “careful” at all. It’s kind of like “Run slowly!” If you do want to electrocute yourself, you had best do it carefully. Better yet, you should be careful, that’s for sure, and know that the box or the building where this sign was spotted probably contains dangerous high-voltage electrical equipment that will burn you to a crisp if you insist on opening the box or playing in the building. Rather than frying yourself, leave any fixing of the wires to professional electricians. Smartest to stay away.

Blacklist

This is a column of words or phrases commonly misused by Chinese speakers. If you’re planning to be an English teacher, reporter or employee of a multinational company, then watch out for this page each week.

1. When viewed it from the hillside, Baihua Mountain is shrouded in clouds.

Professor Zhu Shida (ZS): When one of my students wrote this sentence and I deleted “it,” she was puzzled and could not understand why I would do that. She thought that sentence was perfectly correct. The problem with this sentence is the inconsistency of the subject of the main clause with that of the subordinate clause. Obviously, the writer wishes to say: When it is viewed from the hillside, Baihua Mountain is shrouded in clouds. As the subject and the predicate of the subordinate clause can be omitted, it becomes: When viewed from the hillside, Baihua Mountain is shrouded in clouds. Or you may say: When you view it from the hillside, Baihua Mountain is shrouded in clouds.

Terry Boyd-Zhang (TBZ): Another way, especially in very formal academic papers, is to change the “you” to “one”: When one views it from the hillside, the mountain is shrouded in clouds. This can become a bit awkward, so simply removing the “it” is the best solution.

2. With a tour of a series of five cities in China, her second last stop is Beijing.

ZS: The rendering of “second last” is, as a matter of fact, all right. However, the more standard way of expressing this idea is “the last but one” or “the penultimate,” which both mean “next to last.” We have: the penultimate chapter of a book, the penultimate stop; the second page but one. So, this sentence can just as well be written this way: With a tour of a series of five cities in China, her last stop but one is Beijing, or, her penultimate stop is Beijing. I have an example on hand to show the usage of the word penultimate: The runner swung into a terrific bare-footed spurt in the penultimate lap and romped to a record-breaking victory in the men’s 10,000-meter race.

TBZ: I personally kind of like “second last” stop. Though, in the example, I might add “her second last planned stop” is Beijing, because the sentence is in the present tense and a lot can happen in the three cities prior to Beijing. In fact, I would make Beijing the last stop on the tour, but that’s changing everything completely, isn’t it?

3. Sneaker

ZS: Nowadays we are fairly used to the word “sneaker” as meaning a light canvas shoe with a soft rubber sole used for games and sports and don’t think of it as meaning “a person who sneaks.” However, here’s an interesting corporate story from Keds, a sneaker company: “The term was coined in 1917 by Henry Nelson McKinney, an agent for the advertising firm N.W. Ayer & Son, referring to their soft, noiseless rubber soles, which allow the wearer to ‘sneak’ up on unsuspecting friends or family.” The term, however, is found as early as 1887 when The Boston Journal of Education reported, “It is only the harassed schoolmaster who can fully appreciate the pertinency of the name boys give to tennis shoes – sneakers.” So, the word was coined much earlier and very vividly brings into relief its character of softness and lightness as a sports shoe.

TBZ: This is really interesting! So, “sneakers” is generally an American term. In Canada, we normally say “running shoes” or perhaps call them by the brand, such as Converse.

A man of means

Chinglish story

This column focuses on Chinglish mistakes in our daily life. If you have any experiences to share, send them to Wang Yu at wangyu2008@ynet.com.

By Huang Daohen

My friend Lillian should have much to complain about recently: she was robbed while touring South Africa during the 2010 World Cup and broke her leg in a car accident on her return to Beijing.

But what annoyed her most is her English, because it nearly cost her the chance to meet Mr. Right.

Lillian, in her late 20s, has an envious job. She is a CCTV reporter and it was through her company that she realized the dream of all young people: to travel the world.

But like most ’80s children who live far from their families and work hard, Lillian has a problem: she has little time for socializing and is still single. So when Lillian was asked to attend a friend’s birthday party, she agreed.

At the party, the host, an American couple, introduced a young entrepreneur named Dennis to Lillian. Dennis is a haigui, Chinese slang for people who have returned to the country after having studied abroad. Now he runs a consulting company that provides business solutions to foreign companies who want to do business in China.

“He is really a man of means,” whispered Jenny, one of Lillian’s best friends from America, noticing the host’s intentions. Jenny then left, leaving Lillian and Dennis alone.

Lillian interpreted “man of means” as “man who is mean”: selfish, nasty or small-minded. Better to believe the worst, as an old Chinese saying goes. Lillian therefore deliberately avoided talking to Dennis and soon left with an excuse.

It was only the next day that Lillian realized her mistake. In English, a man “of means” refers to one who is wealthy, but doesn’t at all need to imply selfish or ignoble.

“I was giving the signal of support instead of caution,” Jenny said. “Dead meat.”
Despite the incident, Lillian salvaged the situation when she and Dennis went on a real date.

That aside, I wondered whether Lillian got the point of Jenny calling her “dead meat.” From a friend, that’s not a curse, of course. But when you say someone is dead meat, you imply that they are in serious trouble. I wonder how Lillian and Dennis are doing now.

Car Parking Fee things take care of themselves

This column aims to identify Chinglish in public areas. If you see any Chinglish signs, please send a picture of it to wangyu2008@ynet.com together with your name and address.

Photo by Thomas Schwiertz

By Terry Boyd-Zhang

I love Chinglish because it makes me smile. I also love the whole puzzle of translation because it isn’t as straightforward as it appears. Having started a bit of translating myself, I have been amazed by how many times I either (a) know what the whole sentence means but not how to translate it into English, or (b) know each and every word in the sentence but have no idea what the whole thing means. I now realize how very easy it is to mangle a simple concept. Take this sign, for example. The parking is free in Chinese but comes for a fee in English. Well, I guess that is how it goes sometimes, isn’t it? And, while we would all like “car things (to) take care of themselves” – no more filling, washing, checking the tires, filling chips in the windshield; perhaps we can even teach our car to pick up a Timmy’s on the way home – I am afraid that this is a long ways away in the future. Instead, when you see this sign, you shouldn’t have to pay for parking, but you will have to “protect your belongings.”

Blacklist

This is a column of words or phrases commonly misused by Chinese speakers. If you’re planning to be an English teacher, reporter or employee of a multinational company, then watch out for this page each week.

1. Many more people will be told that they are on their way to get Alzheimer’s disease.

Professor Zhu Shida (ZS): It seems perfect in every aspect. What is wrong with it? As a matter of fact, there is something wrong. Where? Let me explain. In English, there is a phrase “on the way to peace.” We also have “on the pathway to peace,” “on the road to victory,” etc. The phrase “on the way to” is followed by a noun, either “peace” or “victory.” So, it cannot be followed by an infinitive as seen above. It has to be followed by a participle phrase: Many more people will be told that they are on their way to getting Alzheimer’s disease. I have another example from International Herald Tribune for you: “There seemed to be no pathway to defining or prosecuting the crime of aggression.” So, please make sure you are not confused about this.

Terry Boyd-Zhang (TBZ): I had something really important to say about this. I prepared it in my head on the way to work today but, now that I’m at my computer, I forgot everything. When I went to the doctor, she told me that I am suffering from the onset of early Alzheimer’s. But with the Chinese medicinal soup she prescribed for me, I am now on the road to recovery. Now, if I could just remember the road home …

2. The largest group of foreign students in Germany are from China.

ZS: Students are often confused with which predicate should be used in the case of “the group of” and “a group of.” In the sample sentence, “the group of” should take the third-person singular: The largest group of foreign students in Germany is from China. While in the case of “a group of,” it should have third-person plural: A group of foreign students in the class are from China. I now give you another example: The greatest number of migrant workers at the factory is from Sichuan. A great number of migrant workers at the factory speak Sichuanese. Are you clear now?

TBZ: This is a really tough grammar point. With “the group of” and “the greatest number of,” you are talking about “the” group (one group in particular), so use the singular. With “a group of,” the “a” generalizes it, meaning that you are really talking about “students,” so you need the plural. So very easy to make a mistake!

3. Right now we awash in cheap credit.
 
ZS: “Awash” is an adjective or adverb, it is mistaken as a verb here. It is an adjective or adverb with the prefix “a-” meaning “in the act of,” such as aflutter, or “in the condition of,” such as aweary. These words usually serve as a predicative. Here, “awash” is an adjective or adverb showing “in the act of.” Let me show you some examples: When awash means “level with the surface of the water,” we have: The beach is awash with the flowing tide. When it means “floating,” we have: The floodwater set everything awash in the cellar. When it means “overflowing,” we have: The music is awash with melancholy. Or, the market is awash with shoddy products. So, for the sentence above, it should read: Right now we are awash in cheap credit. It means we are virtually submerged by cheap credit. Please take note that, while we may say “a man who is asleep,” we cannot say “an asleep man.” 

TBZ: I’d like to create a new sentence form here: An asleep man is awash in cheap credit. What do you think? Can we start a language revolution at Beijing Today?

Mobile phone replenishing gets stuck

This column aims to identify Chinglish in public areas. If you see any Chinglish signs, please send a picture of it to wangyu2008@ynet.com together with your name and address.

By Tiffany Tan

This is not a business sign. This is a sign of no business. “Stuck” spells disaster for any enterprise, except if you’re a television station producing shows like Lost or Survivor, or a travel agency selling honeymooners uninterrupted personal time on some remote island.

Since this shop is clearly in the communications industry, stuck is very bad. There are people out there who will starve themselves – maybe even sell their grandmothers – just to buy a new cell phone every few months. Well, the store has definitely lost this profitable clientele since it cannot “replenish” its mobile phone supply.

The first step to decoding this sign is knowing that it is actually advertising mobile phone recharge cards, or shouji chongzhika. Not being able to sell these cards is probably worse than not being able to sell mobile phones, since people seem to buy phone credit as often as they buy ice cream in summer.

“Stuck” found itself astray in this sign because ka, or card, means “stuck” in certain contexts. Getting unstuck is pretty simple. Just write: mobile phone top-up, or recharge, card. The shop can then rejoin those enterprises that have signboards to help them make money.