姪 – Zhi2 – Nephew (Brother’s Son)

Another 姪! Michael Anthony Minutillo, aka “Sonny” or sometimes “Tony”.

By the way, a sister’s son would be a 甥 – Sheng1 – Nephew.

組 – Zu3 – Organize, Group, Team, Braid

編組 – Bian1 Zu3 – Arrange Group — Marshalling

And 資料分解 – Zi1 Liao4 Fen1 Jie3 – Resource Material Divide Seperate – Data Decompose — Unmarshalling

春 – Chun1 – Spring

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…And Spring: Good! Now I’m even more interested in 3-iron than I was before.

(for the rest of the seasons, see here)

式 – Shi4 – Type, Pattern, Style

花式游泳 – Hua1 Shi4 You2 Yong3 – Flower Pattern Swimming — Synchronized Swimming

Waterboys was the best movie about boy’s synchronized swimming I’ve ever seen, BAR NONE. (surprisingly it has also been made into not just one, but TWO TV shows)

鹽 – Yan2 – Salt

How could it be that I’ve never done salt before! But anyway, it’s on my mind today because I learned another “folk” use for it. I already knew it can be used to make sour things sweet, and can be added to root beer to make a sore throat cure, and can be used to wash fruits. Now I also know that you can wet the skin around a bug bite and sprinkle salt on to help draw the poison out.

玉 – Yu4 – Jade

玉米 – Yu4 Mi3 – Jade Rice — Corn

Update: Jenny just reminded me of why this was word of the day in the first place. I was supposed to look up if baby corn is actually corn. It is.

紀 – Ji4 – Record, Arrange, History

紀念 – Ji4 Nian4 – History Remember – Celebrate, Commemorate, Memorial

中正 – Zhong1 Zheng4 – one of the Generalissimo’s names

中正紀念館 – Zhong1 Zheng4 Ji4 Nian4 Guan3 – Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

陸 – Lu4 – Land, Shore

中國 – Zhong1 Guo2 – Middle Country — China

大陸 – Da4 Lu4 – Big Land — Continent, Mainland

中國大陸 – Zhong1 Guo2 Da4 Lu4 – China Mainland — Mainland China

陸 can also be pronounced Liu4 and used as the super secret “fraud proof” version of 六 – Liu4 – Six.

路 – Lu4 – Path, Road

I’ll be on the road tomorrow with questionable internet access, so don’t be too concerned if you don’t see 每日一字 posted at the usual time.

棚 – Peng2 – Shed

帳棚 – Zhang4 Peng2 – Curtain Shed — Tent

澆 – Jiao1 – Irrigate, Water

愷真 also really likes to 澆花 – Jiao1 Hua1 – Water Flowers.

寺 – Si4 – Temple

In chronological order:

Dosa Hut – Great! Never had a dosa before, but now I like ‘em. They’re like square crispy pancakes with a scoop of spicy mashed potatoes in between.

Godzilla: FINAL WARS – Not as good as I had hoped. The other monsters didn’t put up much of a fight, but I guess when you have to get through a dozen in under two hours that’s what happens. But seeing it with the hardest of the hard core Godzilla fans on the east coast was something! The appearance of Ghidorah practically got a standing ovation.

Vital – It did not, as I had predicted, degenerate into a Japanese version of Weekend at Bernies. Still pretty good.

Korean Temple Cuisine – The entire restaurant is the size of my closet. But the food and atmosphere were interesting and good.

Princess Raccoon- I am officially procaliming this the “sleeper hit” of NYAFF 2005! Missed it? There’s still tickets available for the second showing next week.

剖 – Pou1 – Cut

解剖 – Jie3 Pou1 – Seperate Cut — Dissect

解剖學 – Jie3 Pou1 Xue2 – Dissect Study — Anatomy

熊 – Xiong2 – Bear

I was hoping Raccoon would be something satisfying like “Mask Rat” but instead it contains this bizarre word that isn’t in any of the online dictionaries I usually use: 浣. The only definition I can find for it is from Wiktionary: Wash, Rinse.

浣熊 – Wan3 Xiong2 – Wash Bear — Raccoon

Movies for this weekend: Godzilla: FINAL WARS, Vital and Princess Raccoon.

橡 – Xiang4 – Oak, Rubber Tree

橡皮 – Xiang4 Pi2 – Rubber Tree Skin — Rubber

橡皮搽 – Xiang4 Pi2 Ca2 – Rubber Wipe — Eraser

We saw a movie that I think wanted to be the Japanese equivalent of Eraserhead, called Tetsuo: The Iron Man. It failed to do that, or anything else.

But the good news is I have discovered how much fun it is to type “eraser”. Try it! Eraser. Eraser. Eraser! eraser eraser eraser eraser eraser eraser eraser eraser!

Eraser.

旋 – Xuan2 – Whirl, Revolve

旋風 – Xuan2 Feng1 – Whirl Wind — Whirlwind, Tornado

皺 – Zhou4 – Wrinkle, Crease

眉頭 – Mei2 Tou2 – Eyebrow Head — Brow

皺眉頭 – Zhou4 Mei2 Tou2 – Wrinkle Brow — Furrow Brow, Scowl

糕 – Gao1 – Cake

蛋糕 – Dan4 Gao1 – Egg Cake — Cake

起士蛋糕 – Qi3 Shi4 Dan4 Gao1 – Cheese Cake — Cheesecake

Jenny made her (almost) famous “Mint Oreo and Square Cookies Crust Cheesecake” this weekend! It was good, especially with our hand-picked strawberries.

猈 – Ba4 – Dog With Short Shinbone

Not looking for anything even related to dogs, I ran across this word by accident. I then found these other surprising words:

犺 – Kang4 – Fierce Dog
尨 – Mang2 – Shaggy Dog
獳 – Nou4 – Angry Dog
狩 – Shou4 – Hunting Dog
玁 – Xian3 – Long-Snout Dog
猲 – Xie1 – Short-Snout Dog
猘 – Zhi4 – Mad Dog

But there’s no way to say “Dog With Long Shinbone”!?!?!?

膀 – Bang3 – Upper Arm

翅膀 – Chi4 Bang3 – Wing

肩膀 – Jian1 Bang3 – Shoulder

普 – Pu3 – General, Universal

吉普賽蟲 – Ji2 Pu3 Sai4 Chong2 – Gypsy Insect — Gypsy Moth

蝸 – Gua1 – Snail

蝸牛 – Gua1 Niu2 – Snail Cow — Snail

狼 – Lang2 – Wolf

大野狼 – Da4 Ye3 Lang2 – Big Wild Wolf — Big Bad Wolf

Jenny picked an awful Korean movie for us to see tonight called (I think?) Return of the Wolf. Complete waste of time. Avoid.

閏 – Run4 – Intercalary

閏月 – Run4 Yue4 – Intercalary Month

閏秒 – Run4 Miao3 – Intercalary Second — Leap Second

Don’t worry… there will be no leap second this June. And you can check back here twice a year (January and June) too see when the next one will be. They really, of course, should have an RSS feed.

紗 – Sha1 – Gauze, Screen

紗門 – Sha1 Men2 – Screen Door

位 – Wei4 – Position, Location, (measure word for people)

三位一體 – San1 Wei4 Yi1 Ti3 – Three People One Body — Trinity

The search is over! Walde got a copy of Trinity Goes East! I haven’t waited this long to see a kung fu movie since the great search for MARTIAL MONKS OF SHAOLIN TEMPLE, which turned out to be a massive disappointment in comparison to the amazing trailer: “Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple! If there ever was an action packed kung fu film, THIS IS IT! Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple! MARTIAL MONKS OF SHAOLIN TEMPLE!!!!” Hopefully this one won’t be so.

But we’ll have to wait a little longer because silly Nate chose this, of all times, to go on vacation. And then by the time he’s back, this one will be gone to Italy. Don’t these people have their priorities straight!?!?!

利 – Li4 – Sharp, Advantage, Benefit

專利 – Zhuan Li4 – Specialize Advantage — Patent

島 – Dao3 – Island

卡坦島 – Ka3 Tan3 Dao3 – Catan Island — Settlers of Catan

I like this game. But then again I generally like any game that I win.

推 – Tui1 – Push

推高機 – Tui1 Gao1 Ji1 – Push High Machine — Forklift

Alternatively, 鏟車 – Chan3 Che1 – Shovel Car — Forklift

And yes, here’s your pictorial Chinese/English fork lift dictionary. Including the all-important 前伸式堆高機 – Qian2 Shen1 Shi4 Tui1 Gao1 Ji1 – Front Extend Type Push High Machine — REACH TRUCK!

汽 – Qi4 – Vapor, Steam

汽油 – Qi4 You2 – Vapor Oil — Gasoline

The reel mower is no more. We’re now “mowing with gas”. But it’s not a total defeat: the shame of not being able to hack the reel mower is counterbalanced by the fact that the new mower looks like a race car.

臉 – Lian3 – Face

Discovered by Jenny: The Old Man of Sleeping Giant: