剝 – Bo1 – Peel, Shell, Strip

剝皮 – Bo1 Pi2 – Peel Skin — Excoriate, Flay

觀 – Guan1 – To Look At, To Watch, To Observe, To Behold

Beholder (picture)

引 – Yin3 – To Lead, To Divert (water), To Guide

地心引力 – Di4 Xin1 Yin3 Li4 – Ground Heart Lead Force — Gravity

引力場 – Yin3 Li4 Chang3 – Lead Force Field — Gravitational Field

簧 – Huang2 – Metallic Reed, Spring Of Lock

彈簧 – Dan4 Huang2 – Spring

彈簧床墊 – Dan2 Huang2 Chuang2 Dian4 – Spring Bed Pad — Mattress

誇 – Kua1 – Boast

誇大 – Kua1 Da4 – Boast Big — Exaggerate

擠 – Ji3 – Crowded, Squeeze

擠進 – Ji3 Jin4 – Squeeze Enter — Tuck

擠入 – Ji3 Ru4 – Squeeze Person — Intrude

Freeze → Frozen ∴ Squeeze → Squozen

儘 – Jin3 – To The Utmost

儘快 – Jin3 Kuai4 – Utmost Fast – As Quickly As Possible

儘量 – Jin3 Liang4 – Utmost Amount — As Much As Possible, To The Greatest Extent

儘早 – Jin3 Zao3 – Utmost Early — As Early As Possible

背 – Bei4 – Back (body)

And if you pronounce it Bei1 it means to Carry Something On Your Back.

恥 – Chi3 – Shame, Disgrace

Inspired by the meat Jenny seperated out of her rice noodles and refused to eat which I referred to as her “PILE OF SHAME”.

聽 – Ting1 – Listen, Hear, Obey

聽話 – Ting1 Hua4 – Listen Words – Obey, Obedient

異 – Yi4 – Different, Unusual, Strange

Another day, another serendipitous find! This time we got off the highway in a failed attempt to avoid a traffic jam in a completely random town and ran into THE PLACE, which had a sign out front proclaiming “unusual restaurant”. We saw a bunch of tables set up in the back under a tent, and a huge roaring fire pit. We went back for dinner and were not disappointed! They cook all sorts of stuff (corn, steak, lobster, chicken, clams) right in that huge fire and then bring it to your table still smoldering. The dining area is just a bunch of tree stumps arranged around tables under a makeshift tent. It’s basically like a great home-style cookout that goes all summer long!

鐵 – Tie3 – Iron

Serendipitous find! On our way to someplace completely else in West Haven, we drove by a restaurant called Iron Chef, which claimed to specialize in…. Taiwanese food?!?! It was an absolutely tiny place (two tables), but came through big time with plenty of stuff that seemed to impress Jenny (good sign). Highest recommended dish? The 卦包, but we haven’t tried everything yet.

吼 – Hou3 – Roar, Shout

Jenny wants me to do this one today. Not sure what it means.

疵 – Ci1 – Blemish, Flaw, Defect

I’m thinking more and more that it’s a defective DSL modem. Luckily this nice company Linksys has set up one of their free wireless access points in my neighborhood!

片 – Pian4 – Slice, Piece, Flake, Thin

DSL FLAKY STOP POSTING OVER DIALUP STOP NOT SURE IF ITS THE MODEM OR THE PHONE COMPANY STOP ONE THING FOR SURE IF I CALL THEM AND SAY THAT I HAVE DSL CONNECTED TO APPLE AIRPORT AND THEN A LINUX MACHINE THEYLL SAY ITS MY FAULT STOP

鸚 – Ying1 – Parrot

鸚鵡 – Ying1 Wu3 – Parrot

閒 – Xian2 – Idle

You must know about Idle Words, right? By hacker and painter Maciej Cegłowski? Famous for being attacked by thugs and ranting about the Space Shuttle? Right now he’s in Beijing, and, well, interesting things are continuing to happen.

菜 – Cai4 – Dish (Of Food), Vegetables

菜單 – Cai4 Dan1 – Dish List — Menu

Our original destination being closed for vacation, (we somehow have a knack for going to restaurants when they are on vacation) we can now proudly report that ME ‘NU recieves the first annual messy-78 commendation in the field of breakfast-specializing restaurants on State Street in New Haven, Connecticut!

勝 – Sheng4 – Victorious

JENNY WINS! JENNY WINS!

再 – Zai4 – Again, Once More, Re-, Second, Another

Tomorrow: THE REMATCH OF THE CENTURY!!!!

鄰 – Lin2 – Adjacent, Close To

鄰居 – Lin2 Ju1 – Adjacent Resident — Neighbor

敵 – Di2 – Enemy

敵人 – Di2 Ren2 – Enemy Person — Enemy

凝 – Ning2 – Congeal

For no reason.

構 – Gou4 – Construct, Form, Make Up, Compose

OK why didn’t anybody tell me that like ALL OF Washington DC was under construction? The Capitol, the Supreme Court, even what little we could see of the White House were all torn up, roped off, and scaffolded over. Oh well, on the bright side at least it was oppressively hot and humid!

頓 – Dun4 – Spell, Bout, Time, Jerk, Stop

波士頓 – Bo1 Shi4 Dun4 – Boston

華盛頓 – Hua2 Sheng4 Dun4 – Washington

We’re randomly going to Washington DC tomorrow (taking the train from Union Station to Union Station!?!?) and staying for the weekend. I* access may be sketchy, but normal posting activity should resume Monday.

賺 – Zhuan4 – Earn, Make A Profit

Not to be confused with 轉 – Zhuan3 – Turn, Rotate

賺錢 – Zhuan4 Qian2 – Earn Money