Gigi Gahtgaht: to stammer or stutterIn The History of the Han Dynasty, there is a story about a man named Jau Cheung who suffered from stammering. The first emperor of the Han dynasty (206-194 B.C.) had already made the son of Queen Leuih the crown prince, but he loved his concubine Lady Chik so much that he changed his mind. He wanted to make her son the new crown prince. Jau Cheung, an old official, challenged the emperor: "I can't talk very well, but as far I know, it would be ve...very wrong … [Read more...]
Happy Birthday, Blog!
Ngauhyat: birthday Many Chinese characters can be broken into smaller parts. The word "birthday" (??) can be simplified into ngauhyat (??). My blog just turned one! (April 5th marked the anniversary of my first post.) Even though ngauhyat means "cow" and "one" when taken separately, I hope it still proves to be an auspicious occasion.A popular Chinese tradition held at one-year-old parties is to surround the birthday child with different items. These things represent their possible futures. Here … [Read more...]
To Go or Not? A Writers’ Conference Dilemma
Louhsyu Laaigwai --> Mouhdehng Maaihsau: don't know how to startIn Chinese language, there exists a verbal riddle known as the enigmatic parallelism. A hungry rat (louhsyu) tries to bite a tortoise (gwai)--without success when the tortoise hides in its shell. This image of the rat trying to pull out the tortoise demonstrates the phrase's meaning of not knowing how to begin.I'm not sure where to start in terms of writers' conferences. According to this post called "The Writers Conference … [Read more...]