User Comments - changye

Posted on: Insecticide

Hi jen

Actually both “也” and “它” originate in the same character, or similar shape, which indicated "something like snake", and "also" （也） is a relatively new usage of this character.

http://www.internationalscientific.org/CharacterASP/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E5%AE%83&submitButton1=Etymology

http://www.internationalscientific.org/CharacterASP/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=%E4%B9%9F&submitButton1=Etymology

Posted on: Love Tangle 8: The Good Husband

“儿子” is not a generic term for a child. They use “孩子” to mean a child. There are two possible reasons why they say “儿子” in the dialogue.

1. The couple already knows their baby is a boy, although doctors are not supposed to tell the sex of an unborn baby in the PRC.

2. They are hoping for a boy so strongly that they use “儿子” instead of “孩子”.

Posted on: Insecticide

Hi kimiik

“它” is the original character of “蛇”, and it indicated the shape of something like a snake in the era of oracle bone scripts and bronze inscriptions. “蛇” was later made by combining “它” and “虫”, and “虫” also meant “snake” in the past. "It" is a secondary meaning of the character “它”. People used the character “蟲” to mean "insects" before, but today “虫” (insects) is used as the simplified form of “蟲”.

Posted on: 理想女人

Hi lilac 老师

幸亏我家两口子都很讲究“中庸之道”，呵呵。

Posted on: A Tour of Xi'an

The stroke count of this character is 56, and actually some Chinese characters have more stroke count, i.e. “龍 × ４” and “興 ×　４” (64 stroke count). That said, I admit the character "biang" is much more difficult to write/memorize than they are.

Posted on: Love Tangle 8: The Good Husband

子曰，过犹不及也。

Posted on: Talking Numbers

I prefer numbers to marks for indicating tones. Tone marks are often too small to recognize, especially when they are shown on browsers. I sometimes have to use a magnifier to see them. This is not a joke.

Posted on: Love Tangle 8: The Good Husband

Hi bababardwan

“哄女人”就是汉族男人的一个很重要的传统任务，同时也是一个不可不知的生存技巧。

Posted on: A Tour of Xi'an

哎呀，太糟糕了。

Posted on: Love Tangle 8: The Good Husband

子曰，巧言令色鲜矣仁！