困 – Kun4 – Tired, Weary

And if your eyes (目) are tired, you’re 睏 – Kun4 – Sleepy.

匠 – Jiang4 – Craftsman

木匠 – Mu4 Jiang4 – Wood Craftsman — Carpenter

鐵匠 – Tie3 Jiang4 – Iron Craftsman — Blacksmith

泥水匠 – Ni2 Shui3 Jiang4 – Mud Water Craftsman — Mason

And so on…

伯 – Bo2 – Uncle (Father’s elder brother)

伯爵 – Bo2 Jue2 – Uncle Noble — Earl

格雷伯爵紅茶 – Ge2 Lei2 Bo2 Jue3 Hong2 Cha2 – Grey Earl Black Tea — Earl Grey Tea

彗 – Hui4 – Broom

彗星 – Hui4 Xing1 – Broom Star — Comet

嚎 – Hao2 – Cry, Bawl, Howl

Howl’s Moving Castle. Jenny: “It’s alright.” Steve: “I feel asleep.”

蟒 – Mang3 – Python

Two movies that I haven’t seen in a long time that I recently saw: Dune – not as good as I remembered it, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail – even better than I remembered it.

音 – Yin1 – Sound, Pronounciation

Handy list of words with differing pronounciations in China and Taiwan, courtesy of 中文.com.

鉛 – Qian1 – Lead (element)

石墨 – Shi2 Mo4 – Stone Ink — Graphite

But apparently pencils contain neither! They have 筆心 – Bi3 Xin1 – Pencil Heart.

冽 – Lie4 – Frigid

The temperature wasn’t that low but the wind made our excursion quite a frigid one. Remind me to go back some time in nicer weather.

剛 – Gang1 – Hard, Firm, Strong, Tough

剛毅 – Gang1 Yi4 – Firm Perserverance — Intrepid

灰 – Hui1 – Grey, Ash

灰熊 – Hui1 Xiong2 – Grey Bear — Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Man is a movie about a guy who really liked bears. And then one ate him.

伽 – Ga1 – (used phonetically)

阿爾法 – A1 Er3 Fa4 – Alpha (Α, α)
        .
        .
        .
奧米伽 – Ao4 Mi3 Ga1 – Omega (Ω, ω)

Today’s secret decoder ring: Chinese names of Greek letters!

丘 – Qiu1 – Mound

沙丘 – Sha1 Qiu1 – Sand Mound — Dune

訂 – Ding4 – Arrange, Settle, Subscribe

For my birthday: a subscription…. TO COFFEE!

磊 – Lei3 – Pile of Rocks

I love the fact that the word for “Pile of Rocks” is actually just a pile of 石 – Shi2 – Rocks.

展 – Zhan3 – Unfold, Use, Spread Out

展開 – Zhan3 Kai1 – Unfold Open — Launch

By all accounts, the IQ/MAX launch was an overwhelming, devastating success! Except for the fact that they wouldn’t let me take pictures. I was planning to TOTALLY liveblog the event. Oh well.

In other news, the launch somehow made Gizmodo? As if that makes any sense? And somebody over there posted a comment “is this real?”, inviting the obvious response “It’s real… and it’s SPECTACULAR.”… but they don’t allow comments from the unwashed masses. Foiled again!

增 – Zeng1 – Increase

增長 – Zeng1 Zhang3 – Increase Grow — Grow

琵 – Pi2 – Lute

琵琶 – Pi2 Pa2 – Lute

六指琴魔 – Liu4 Zhi3 Qin2 Mo2 – Six Finger Zither Demon — Demon of the Lute

This movie left Jenny and I both speechless: her by how bad it was, me by how good it was.

極 – Ji2 – Extreme, Limit

南極 – Nan2 Ji2 – South Extreme — South Pole

北極 – Bei3 Ji2 – North Extreme — North Pole

仇 – Chou2 – Hatred, Animosity

世仇 – Shi4 Chou2 – Generation Hatred — Feud

Town of North Haven, CT: official site vs. Town of North Haven, CT: UNOFFICIAL TOTALLY UNAUTHORIZED RENEGADE SITE!

坡 – Po1 – Slope

新加坡 – Xin1 Jia1 Po1 – Singapore

They came up to me last week at work and said “Oh by the way we need you to go to a distributor conference in Asia next month”. I said “Asia, huh? Could you maybe be more specific?” They said “Um… Tokyo? I think?” A few days later I was called to a meeting to discuss who’s going where, and my name was on a spreadsheet under a column headed Hong Kong. “Who told you Tokyo? No way, the conference is in Hong Kong this year. Or maybe Vietnam. No, I think Hong Kong.” Now just today they tell me no, it’s not Tokyo, it’s not Vietnam, it’s not Hong Kong, actually it’s SINGAPORE. And this time they are really totally completely 100% sure. Probably.

耳 – Er3 – Ear

耳朵 – Er3 Duo5 – Ear Flower — Ear

Also 耳語 – Er3 Yu3 – Ear Language — Whisper

And 木耳 – Mu4 Er3 – Wood Ear

義 – Yi4 – Proper, Justice, Meaning

Words whose meanings have been the subject of some controversy lately:   “Done”   “Bug”   “Working”   “Final”

獎 – Jiang3 – Prize, Award

Getting up at 5 AM this morning was worth something after all.

蔻 – Kou4 – Nutmeg

豆蔻 – Dou4 Kou4 – Bean Nutmeg — Nutmeg

壺 – Hu2 – Pot

哥倫比亞 – Ge1 Lun2 Bi3 Ya4 – Colombia

We can now confirm that Peroles, a Colombian restaurant in Hamden, is good! Jenny’s been wanting to go there for a while. I looked up Peroles, it means “Pots”, which makes sense considering their decor. Jenny had Bandeja Paisa which was like a whole day’s worth of food all on one plate: fried egg, corn-based-bread-type-thing, beans, rice, half an avocado, fried plantain, a steak, and for dessert: deep fried pork belly!

(by the way this word for Pot is kind of strange, but cool in that if you squint you can imagine that it actually looks like a pot. the more common word is here)

極 – Ji2 – Extremely, Utmost

極好 – Ji2 Hao3 – Extremely Good — Fabulous

While waiting for Jenny to get her eyes checked today, a guy suddenly came up to me and said “Excuse me, while I was getting my glasses I caught a glimpse of you from over there. Did anybody ever tell you you look EXACTLY like Jack, from Will and Grace? You know, Jack, the.. ah… funny one?” I told him that no, nobody had ever told me that before! He seemed surprised, and wandered away. So what do you, the viewers at home think? Am I as fabulous as JACK?

裝 – Zhuang1 – Clothing, Costume

西裝 – Xi1 Zhuang1 – Western Clothing — Suit

I’m going to like the way I look. He guarantees it.

持 – Chi2 – Support, Hold, Grasp, Manage

支持 – Zhi1 Chi2 – Support

齒 – Chi3 – Tooth

齒輪 – Chi3 Lun1 – Tooth Wheel — Gear

如 – Ru2 – If

如果‧愛 – Ru2 Guo3 Ai4 – If Result Love — Perhaps Love

Perhaps Love Is a Hong Kong/Bollywood style musical, sort of like Moulin Rouge. Not that great, but we had to watch it since it had Jenny’s favorite JACKYYYYYYYY!!!!!