染み取り
So I haven't learned much Chinese in Taipei, but I have developed a nice line in learning which sinitic compounds used in Japanese do not carry over into Mandarin. You will doubtless profit from hearing that Chinese and Japanese write "lamb" differently.
I made this important discovery yesterday at the dry-cleaner's. At a birthday party for a friend over the weekend, another friend had (kindly) offered to give me some lamb but (unkindly) cut it so that some of the connective tissue whipsawed. I ended up with a very neat diagonal line of gravy spattered across my shirt. Chuckles all around. A torrent of fervent apologies from my friend--the only way to salvage your friendship with another member of the Family after you've ruined his outfit is to abase yourself big-time.
Luckily, I was wearing a T-shirt underneath, and Taipei's an informal city, so Mr. Button-down was relegated to my bag until the cleaner's could deal with him. Naturally, yet another (sloshed) friend decided to pitch forward (sloshily) and expectorate half his cosmo onto my shoulder a few hours later. (I know I'm something of a wit, but I don't think what I'd just said was that funny.) In case you didn't know, pink liquid shows up rather well on light blue fabric in bar lighting.
*sigh*
Given a choice between going through the rest of the night either (1) looking like a cosmo drinker who was too far gone to aim his glass at his own mouth or (2) barechested, I decided to keep the shirt on and adopt a happy/spacey expression. T-shirts are machine washable, after all, and I'm only in this city for another week.
Later, though, it was time to go to the cleaner's. The receptionists in my office offered to take care of it for me, but since I have a perverse sense of adventure, I went myself. That's how I ended up trying to explain to the woman behind the counter (who spoke a little English and a little Japanese but understood neither "lamb" nor "ko-hitsuji") what the hell was splashed across my shirt front. Luckily, through a combination of 羊 and 汁 and a few other Chinese characters, which I scrawled on an empty receipt as she giggled, I'm pretty sure I got the general idea across. Can't wait to see what my shirt looks like tomorrow!
Good times.
I made this important discovery yesterday at the dry-cleaner's. At a birthday party for a friend over the weekend, another friend had (kindly) offered to give me some lamb but (unkindly) cut it so that some of the connective tissue whipsawed. I ended up with a very neat diagonal line of gravy spattered across my shirt. Chuckles all around. A torrent of fervent apologies from my friend--the only way to salvage your friendship with another member of the Family after you've ruined his outfit is to abase yourself big-time.
Luckily, I was wearing a T-shirt underneath, and Taipei's an informal city, so Mr. Button-down was relegated to my bag until the cleaner's could deal with him. Naturally, yet another (sloshed) friend decided to pitch forward (sloshily) and expectorate half his cosmo onto my shoulder a few hours later. (I know I'm something of a wit, but I don't think what I'd just said was that funny.) In case you didn't know, pink liquid shows up rather well on light blue fabric in bar lighting.
*sigh*
Given a choice between going through the rest of the night either (1) looking like a cosmo drinker who was too far gone to aim his glass at his own mouth or (2) barechested, I decided to keep the shirt on and adopt a happy/spacey expression. T-shirts are machine washable, after all, and I'm only in this city for another week.
Later, though, it was time to go to the cleaner's. The receptionists in my office offered to take care of it for me, but since I have a perverse sense of adventure, I went myself. That's how I ended up trying to explain to the woman behind the counter (who spoke a little English and a little Japanese but understood neither "lamb" nor "ko-hitsuji") what the hell was splashed across my shirt front. Luckily, through a combination of 羊 and 汁 and a few other Chinese characters, which I scrawled on an empty receipt as she giggled, I'm pretty sure I got the general idea across. Can't wait to see what my shirt looks like tomorrow!
Good times.
Posted by Sean on
2008-03-25 14:16:48
Too bad you're leaving. I'll be in Taipei on 11 April. I was in Tokyo for a couple of days last week, too.
Too bad you're leaving. I'll be in Taipei on 11 April. I was in Tokyo for a couple of days last week, too.
I'm not sure which lamb-related fluid they thought it was, John. I wrote something like 羊汁, which is probably illiterate-sounding (or maybe it means "lanolin" in Chinese?). But all's well that ends well.
BTW, Marzo, that character isn't the usual way こひつじ is written, though it's seen in names and things sometimes. Not trying to be a pedant--just hoping that if you ever go to Japan, you won't be thinking no one ever talks about lamb because you don't see 羔 anywhere. :)
By the way, if by any chance it looked as if I was trying to be pedantic, I was not. I reckon that you have spent more years living in Japanese than I have spent weeks haphazardly looking at it. It is simply that I am half bewildered, half delighted by the quirkiness of kanji. (Take that "beauty is a plump, big sheep" thing, for instance, if zhongwen.com is to be trusted...)
And no, I didn't think you were being pedantic. Kanji are fun, sort of like an Erector Set when you're figuring out how to put the parts together to make different stuff. They bring out your inner little boy.