Friday, December 16, 2005

On Vacation

Dear Readers,

Starting on Dec. 17th, I will be traveling through Oregon and California for three weeks.

Thanks to the great folks at Gmail for hooking me up with Gmail Mobile, so if anyone has any tips about interesting places to visit, please feel free to email me.

In the meantime, please entertain yourselves with this Japanese etiquette guide about how to properly order and consume sushi.

Happy Holidays


-tian

Thursday, December 15, 2005

"Ding Dong"



When I saw this photo, the first two questions popped into my mind are:

1. Is the witch dead?

2. Are the fries done?

The four-character phrase (circled in red) on this young man's left forearm is the literal translation that means "the sound of ding-dong".

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Arbor Snowboard - "Push"


http://www.arborsports.com/06/snowboards/html/push_06.html

In the promotional pamphlet for "Push" from Arbor Snowboards, the characters circled in red are mirrored. It could be an "artistic" thing.



http://www.arborsports.com/06/snowboards/html/push_06_lrg.html

If the phrase on the snowboard is translated back into English one character per word, would mean "female expression", but it is contextually incorrect and sounds terrible.

Since this snowboard caters to female riders, why not just call it "female expression" instead of "Push"? Or use jumbled "Americanese" that translates to "female expression"?


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Sunday, December 11, 2005

Thursday, December 8, 2005

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

"Shi"


http://www.shistudio.com (thanks to Jonathan for the photo)

Well designed business cards are necessary to attract potential clients’ attention. Shi Studio recently passed out these cards at a Toronto art show. According to their website, “Shi means poems in Chinese”.

That is absolutely correct.

Unfortunately, that is not what is printed on their cards.

The character on the card is (or ), which means “meditation”, and “shi” (or "poem") should be (or ).

Luckily, they did not make the mistake of printing , which is also pronounced as "shi" but with third tone, on their cards. (Hint: This "shi" does not mean "poem.")


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Saturday, November 26, 2005

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

"Fraud Blessing"

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"Gratitude"


http://kingpinstudio.com/albums/Chris/kanji.jpg

I hope this tattooist has posted a mirrored photo rather than a mirrored tattoo.

means "gratitude" and "kindness".


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Raven's Lazy Eye

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Friday, November 18, 2005

"Think"


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51116/high/bmepb165499.jpg

When written correctly, means "to think" or "speculate".


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"Sisters"


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51116/high/bmepb166883.jpg

The top character is a Japanese specific character for "elder sister". Its equivalent in Chinese are and .

The bottom character means "younger sister". If the order of two horizontal stokes in partical are reversed and changed the character to , it would mean "wife of the last ruler of the Xia dynasty".

Both characters are somewhat recognizable, but I am astonished by the mangled left partial .


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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Saturday, November 5, 2005

Asian Font Gibberish



According to reader “Quaz”:

“It is a picture of a tattoo taken by some racist, who apparently just downloaded an ‘Asian’ font from the Internet, wrote ‘SAY NO TO NIGGERS’ with that font and let somebody to tattoo it in his back. Of course, since languages don't work that way - which apparently is too much to comprehend for our little white supremacist here - the message is completely incomprehensible, as it actually is just finish with a strange font.”

The tattoo is complete gibberish.

Update: The tattoo shown here is suppose to be Finnish of “SANO EI LAKUPEKOILLE”, which is the English equivalent for “say no to niggers”. The owner of the tattoo used an “Asian” font to mimic the alphabets. What the fool did not realize is that the Chinese do not use alphabets. Way to show your racial superiority by using another culture's language.

Racists are idiots.

Einstein Wants to Know

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Friday, November 4, 2005

Ultimate Mandarin Chinese

book / ultimate mandarine chinese

Textbook is one of the basic tools for someone to learn a foreign language. When there are typos in a beginning-intermediate level Chinese textbook, usually students would assume they are “correct” and move on.

I wonder how the editors of “Ultimate Mandarin Chinese” would feel after reading this post, especially when the slogan on its cover says “The Most Complete and Up-to-Date Program Available”.

How about recheck your book with a dictionary?

= person
= enter

Wednesday, November 2, 2005

"Forever Cherish"


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A20925/high/arm.jpg

I wonder what she is "forever cherishing" () about.

The poorly done tattoo, perhaps?


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Saturday, October 29, 2005

"Bitter"


http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51012/high/bmepb147728.jpg

means "bitter", "hardship", or "suffering".

The three exact emotions this guy is going through right now.


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GQ magazine Nov. 2005 Issue

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Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Saturday, October 22, 2005

The Seven Sins




http://www.bmezine.com/tattoo/A51022/high/bmepb151995.jpg

Anyone who has ever read Dante Alighieri’s La divina commedia or The Divine Comedy” (It was a required reading when I was in high school, and trust me, it was not an actual “comedy”) or watched the movie “SE7EN” would know about the Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the Cardinal Sins.

"Superbia" (, Pride), “Invidia” (, Envy), “Ira” ( or , Wrath), “Acedia” ( or , Sloth), “Avaritia” (, Greed), “Gula” ( or , Gluttony), and “Luxuria” (, , or , Lust) are Latin names for the Seven Deadly Sins.

is the simplification of .

After viewing the tattoo above, I would like to add “improvidus” and “ignarus” to the Cardinal Sins list.


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