牧 – Mu4 – Shepherd

綜 – Zong1 – Sum Up

綜合 – Zong1 He2 – Sum Join — Integrate

You know how sometimes you get some furniture that you have to assemble yourself, and the instructions have been Very Poorly translated from some asian languange? And you want to tear your hair out? I’m doing that right now at work, except instead of furniture, it’s some computer code, and instead of my hair, it’s the veins from my wrists.

The best part about it is that the code I’m trying to integrate is open source, which generally doesn’t have the most comprehensive documentation, and I have to live on the subset that they translated, badly. And normally this isn’t as much of a problem, because even if the documentation isn’t available, you can juse Use The Source™, right? Well, it’s a lot harder when the comments are in Japanese.

罕 – Han3 – Rare

Jenny reports: Zinc is good! The overall quality of the food more than made up for the disappointment in finding out that they do not actually use that much Zinc in the cooking.

蠻 – Man2 – Barbarian, Bullying, Very, Quite, Rough, Reckless

中文.com says this one really means “Barbarians to the South”… prompting the obvious question. And here’s the answer:

狄 – Di2 – Barbarians (to the North)

夷 – Yi2 – Barbarians (to the East)

But I can’t find the word for “Barbarians to the West”!

鋅 – Xin1 – Zinc

Remind me to ask Jenny what she thinks of zinc tomorrow.

蜿 – Wan1 – Slither

Eat like snake.

篇 – Pian1 – Sheet, Piece Of Writing, Chapter

玲 – Ling2 – Sound of Tinkling Jade

Also 瓏 – Long2 – Sound of Tinkling Jade

玲瓏 – Ling2 Long2 – Lovely

撞 – Zhuang4 – Hit, Strike, Bump Into

Things that go 撞 in the night?

棄 – Qi4 – Abandon, Relinquish, Discard, Throw Away

互 – Hu4 – Mutual

槍 – Qiang1 – Gun, Spear

I wonder if there is an interesting story behind this one. Why the same word for Gun and Spear?

缸 – Gang1 – Jar, Vat

“Vat” is an inherently funny word. Like “Spleen”.

(note: Jenny disagrees. “Spleen is not funny”, she says. I challenge her to name any organ funnier than the spleen. She thinks for a moment, and ends the discussion with “No word is funny”.)

箏 – Zheng1 – Zither, Kite

風箏 – Feng1 Zheng1 – Wind Kite — Kite

邁 – Mai4 – Stride

鬱 – Yu4 – Dense (growth), Melancholy

I agree. Very dense.

飲 – Yin3 – Drink

室 – Shi4 – Room

食品室 – Shi2 Pin3 Shi4 – Food Product Room — Pantry

We finally went to try The Pantry in New Haven. It wasn’t “all that”.

晴 – Qing2 – Clear, Fine (weather)

晴雨表 – Qing2 Yu3 Biao3 – Clear Rain Meter — Barometer

蹤 – Zong1 – Footprint, Trace, Tracks

失蹤 – Shi1 Zong1 – Lose Tracks — Missing

Got a game as a gift something like 6 years ago, have kept it in a box and moved it from house to house to house ever since then, just broke the shrinkwrap on it today to install and finally play… and it’s MISSING ONE OF THE DISKS!

成 – Cheng4 – Finish, Complete, Accomplish, Become, Turn Into, Win, Succeed, One Tenth

琪 – Qi2 – Angel

Also: 天使 – Tian1 Shi3 – Heaven Messenger — Angel

恆 – Heng2 – Permanent

恆河 – Heng2 He2 – Permanent River – Ganges

玫 – Mei2 – Rose

狒 – Fei4 – Baboon

Demogorgon

欽 – Qin1 – Royal

鋒 – Feng1 – Point Or Edge Of A Tool

校 – Xiao4 – School

學校 – Xue2 Xiao4 – Study School — School

邪 – Xie2 – Evil, Nefarious, Demonical

邪說 – Xie2 Shuo1 – Evil Say — Heresy

爾 – Er3 – Thus, You

巴爾 – Ba1 Er3 – Bhaal

技 – Ji4 – Skill

技術 – Ji4 Shu4 – Skill Technique — Technology

座 – Zuo4 – Sit, Seated, Seat

王座 – Wang2 Zuo4 – King Seat — Throne

健 – Jian4 – Healthy

健康 – Jian4 Kang1 — Healthy

健身 – Jian4 Shen1 — Healthy Body — Fitness

免 – Mian3 – Exempt, Avoid, Remove, Excuse

免疫 – Mian3 Yi4 – Exempt Plague — Immune

其 – Qi2 – This, That, Such

土耳其 – Tu3 Er3 Qi2 – Turkey

Istanbul Cafe: meh.

館 – Guan3 – House, Establishment

餐廳 – Can1 Ting1 – Meal Hall — Restaurant

餐館 – Can1 Guan3 – Meal House — Restaurant

There’s actually even more ways to say restaurant and I’m not sure what the different connotations are. But the main point of this is…

圖書館 – Tu2 Shu1 Guan3 – Picture Book House — Library

決 – Jue2 – Breach, Decide, Determine

決定論 – Jue2 Ding4 Lun4 – Determine Theory — Determinism

先決論 – Xian1 Jue2 Lun4 – First Determine Theory — Predeterminism

非確定性 – Fei1 Que4 Ding4 Xing4 Not True Determine Nature — Nondeterministic

罩 – Zhao4 – Cover, Shade

頭罩 – Tou2 Zhao4 – Head Shade — Cowl

Stupid Cowled Wizards.

州 – Zhou1 – State, Province

廣州 – Guang3 Zhou1 – Guangzhou

縱 – Zong1 – Vertical

And 橫 – Heng2 – Horizontal