Schizophrenia as 精神分裂症 or 思覺失調症

Just learned it from a friend of mine that Schizophrenia, formerly known as 精神分裂症, has been renamed to 思覺失調症, with de-stigmatization as the purpose.

http://www.mohw.gov.tw/cht/Ministry/DM2_P.aspx?f_list_no=7&fod_list_no=4558&doc_no=45300

儞 ㄋ一ˇ ni 8-O

In Discussions on horses (馬上談), a segment of Dongpo Chan Xi Ji 東坡禪喜集, I came across this Chinese character that I have never seen in my life 儞:  

蘇東坡與佛印出城遊行。佛印謂坡曰。儞在馬上十分好。一似一尊佛也。坡答曰。儞穿一領玉衆裟。在馬上好。似一堆太牛屎也。印云。我口出佛。儞口出屎。隨從人呵呵大笑。

This is a character I couldn't even find when attempting to type it out independent of the input methods. Since I couldn't type it out, it's impossible to google it and verify its existence using the digital method.

Regardless, based on the information about the radical and the number of strokes, I found that 儞 is the archaic form of 你--sort of thou to you (singular format).

See the following more information on 儞:

1. http://dict2.variants.moe.edu.tw/variants/rbt/word_attribute.rbt
2. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%84%9E

假處分 Provisional Injunction

Given the state of the current affairs in Taiwan, yours legally illiterate heard the term 假處分 all the time and finally decided to look up what 假處分 means.

條文內容：
債權人就金錢請求以外之請求，欲保全強制執行者，得聲請假處分。
假處分，非因請求標的之現狀變更，有日後不能強制執行，或甚難執行之虞者，不得為之。

I originally thought that the word "假" means fake, ended up, it's more like the the 假 in "放假"... 暫時狀態 (temporary state) where nothing changes.

Apparently, in English, this is called Provisional Injunction, "a term that is used to describe the temporary injunction or a preliminary restraining order."

Yīng yīng měi dài zi 英英美代子

Before my accident in June 19th, 2007, I hardly knew what it be like to be Yīng yīng měi dài zi (英英美代子).  Then, I found myself entered into the Yīng yīng měi dài zi era.

"Yian yian mo dai zi" is a Taiwanese expression meaning... hanging there doing nothing or “閑閑沒事做” .  It's been very fashionable to pronounce Taiwanese in Mandarin these days.  This is why people came up with the genious idea of converting the Taiwanese expression of "Yian yian mo dai zi" into the mandarin expression of "Yīng yīng měi dài zi" or “英英美代子.”  英英美代子, at the same time, looks like a Japanese name in Chinese... something like Ying Ying Miyoko.

So, if you hear me saying that I am a 英英美代子的無業遊民.  It means that I am an unemployed (無業遊民) hanging there doing nothing ( 英英美代子). (8-O Auch...)

And, the next time someone ask you what you have been up to, you can reply by saying, "Yīng yīng měi dài zi (英英美代子) la!" 8-O lol


(There seems to be some issue with the youtube clip with the recorded pronunciation... hope it will be resolved soon since I've gotta go nite nite.  Got the issue figured out... how I could play the clip. I have to unjoin the HTML 5 trial in order to see the clip.  Guess the HTML 5 player didn't like this my being Yīng yīng měi dài zi 英英美代子 while people are working so hard to get its specifications nailed. 8-O lol)

Bèi gē gē 貝戈戈

貝戈戈 (Bèi gē gē ) is a term I apply on myself all the time.  If you put all three characters 貝戈戈 (Bèi gē gē ) together with 貝 (shell) on the left, and one 戈 (dagger, knife) stacking on top of the other on the left... you get this character... 賤 (oops... pardon me for my French).

There are many ways to interpret the word 賤 (which is not really a nice word to use).

What might be a context to for me to use this God knows how to translate expression of "貝戈戈"?

Example:
Why am I trying to work on a book that might not even sell or be read, especially ain't like anyone force me to do it?  I am 貝戈戈 (Shell knife knife).

Brought it to myself... sadomasochist... almost...

Remember to not use this word on the others unless you really know what you are talking about... it's sort of like a swear word... not nice for you to use it on people... OK?

賈雨村言 Jiǎ yǔ cūn yán

In my own writing, I see myself referring to 賈雨村言 many a time and thought I might want to share with you where it came from and what it referred to...

賈雨村 is a character in the famous Chinese fiction novel, "紅樓夢 (Dream of the Red Chamber)"... the story of a stone.

The literal translation of 賈雨村言 is "賈雨村 said."  At the same time, 賈雨村言 (Jiǎ yǔ cūn yán) and 假語村言 (false comments, villagers' words) have the same pronunciation... with the latter what the author really inferred.

When I use 賈雨村言 in my writing, what I mean is... don't give a rat's ass about my crazy talk.

Following is the ending paragraphs of the book in Chinese.  Unfortunately, most of the English translations I found online did not go all the way to the ending chapter (Look forward to the day when someone completed the translation of all 120 chapters):

這士隱自去度脫了香菱，送到太虛幻境，交那警幻仙子對冊。剛過牌坊，見那一僧一道縹渺而來，士隱接著說道：「大士、真人，恭喜，賀喜！情緣完結，都交割清楚了麼﹖」那僧說：「情緣尚未全結，倒是那蠢物已經回來了。還得把他送還原所，將他的後事敘明，不枉他下世一回。」士隱聽了，便供手而別。那僧道仍攜了玉到青埂峰下，將「寶玉」安放在女媧煉石補天之處，各自雲遊而去。從此後：天外書傳天外事，兩番人作一番人。」

The dumb stone "寶玉" got back from the field trip.

這一日，空空道人又從青埂峰前經過，見那補天未用之石仍在那裏，上面字跡依然如舊，又從頭的細細看了一遍，見後面偈文後又歷敘了多少收緣結果的話頭，便點頭嘆道：「我從前見石兄這段奇文，原說可以聞世傳奇，所以曾經抄錄，但未見返本還原。不知何時復有此一佳話﹖方知石兄下凡一次，磨出光明，修成圓覺，也可謂無復遺憾了。只怕年深日久，字跡模糊，反有舛錯，不如我再抄錄一番，尋個世上清閑無事的人，托他傳遍，知道奇而不奇，俗而不俗，真而不真，假而不假。或者塵夢勞人，聊倩鳥呼歸去；山靈好客，更從石化飛來，亦未可知。」想畢，便又抄了，仍袖至那繁華昌盛的地方，遍尋了一番，不是建功立業之人，即系饒口謀衣之輩，那有閑情更去和石頭饒舌。直尋到急流津覺迷度口，草庵中睡著一個人，因想他必是閑人，便要將這抄錄的《石頭記》給他看看。那知那人再叫不醒。空空道人復又使勁拉他，才慢慢的開眼坐起，便草草一看，仍舊擲下道：「這事我早已親見盡知。你這抄錄的尚無舛錯。我只指與你一個人，托他傳去，便可歸結這一新鮮公案了。」空空道人忙問何人，那人道：「你須待某年、某月、某日、某時，到一個悼紅軒中，有個曹雪芹先生，只說賈雨村言，托他如此如此。」說畢，仍舊睡下了。

Kong Kong Taoist copied down "the story of the stone" and was informed when and where the copied texts should be give to whom... by this gentleman who really could sleep.

那空空道人牢牢記著此言，又不知過了幾世幾劫，果然有個悼紅軒，見那曹雪芹先生正在那裏翻閱歷來的古史。空空道人便將賈雨村言了，方把這《石頭記》示看。那雪芹先生笑道：「果然是『賈雨村言』了！」空空道人便問：「先生何以認得此人，便肯替他傳述﹖」曹雪芹先生笑道：「說你空，原來你肚裏果然空空。既是假語村言，但無魯魚亥豕以及背謬矛盾之處，樂得與二三同志，酒餘飯飽，雨夕燈窗之下，同消寂寞，又不必大人先生品題傳世。似你這樣尋根問底，便是刻舟求劍、膠柱鼓瑟了。」那空空道人聽了，仰天大笑，擲下抄本，飄然而去。一面走著，口中說道：「果然是敷衍荒唐！不但作者不知，抄者不知，並閱者也不知。不過遊戲筆墨，陶情適性而已！」後人見了這本奇傳，亦曾題過四句偈語，為作者緣起之言更轉一竿頭云：

Kong Kong Taoist found Cao Xueqin and showed him the book... that's when Cao Xueqin deciphered that 賈雨村言 means 假語村言.

說到辛酸處，荒唐愈可悲。由來同一夢，休笑世人痴！ 

The ending poem... the way I see it... all the juicy things in life is like a dream... (and possibly for everyone).  Thus, cut the people in this world some slacks and quit laughing at the inescapable silliness (Gotta be human speaking to the supernatural power including the almighty universe?).  Of course, a layman's interpretation, back to 賈雨村言 la!

Neologism in Ratology: ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ

Over a year after this post ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ, I was chatting with this auntie of mine who is a retired Chinese teacher and mentioned to her this strange memory I have about the pronunciation of ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui]  for 關說.

According to her, a veteran teacher who started teaching after graduating from college till she finally retired... ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui] was the correct pronunciation... as in 遊說 (yóu shuì， lobbying).  The thing is that everyone said it wrong and people eventually came to believe that ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo] is the correct way to have the term pronounced... to the extend that it's listed as the correct pronunciation in the online dictionary maintained by the Ministry of Education.

So, if you pronounce it the right way today, ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui], you will be considered to have pronounced it wrong and be corrected with the formerly-known-as-incorrect pronunciation of ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo]... while those who correct your pronunciation really believe that ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui] is wrong and ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo] is right.

(Am I sure am I sure am I sure?  I ain't sure about no nothing though since the 說 in 關說 means 遊說.  It does make sense for it to be pronounced the same way.  Just 賈雨村言 la!)

由人代為請託遊說

《史記‧梁孝王世家》：「上廢栗太子，竇太后心欲以孝王為後嗣，大臣及袁盎等有所關說於景帝。」

(Mama mia! Even 史記 is out... just don't know which dialect they spoke then... 8-O lol)

Neologism in Ratology: ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ: Don't know why I though the 說 in 關說 should be a 破音字... instead of sounding like ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo] ... I thought it should sound like...

Side-by-Side configuration : English-中文

So it is... a continuing efforts made to resolve the side-by-side configuration error in my head between English and Chinese.  lol



(Cool, my edits on the spreadsheet really gets reflected here...)

(Had referenced webpages such as this... http://210.240.55.2/~english/bilingual/taipei.htm)

Special terminologies for Grade 1-9 Curriculum in Taiwan

Don't know why you might want to learn these terminologies but... following are some nice terminologies for me to have when doing my translation jobs since I have big time problems in side-by-side configuration errors... if not the issue of text value unmappable... meaning... I recognize the terms in Chinese or English... but have problem pairing them together... 8-X lol

From http://teach.eje.edu.tw/9CC/about/about3.php

編號	中文名詞	英文譯詞	備註
1.	九年一貫課程	Grade 1-9 Curriculum
2.	國民中小學九年一貫課程綱要	Grade 1-9 Curriculum Guidelines
3.	課程改革	Curriculum Reform
4.	行動研究	Action Research
5.	課程目標	Curriculum Goals	指各學習領域課程綱要所揭示之課程目標。
6.	課程統整	Curriculum Integration
7.	統整課程	Integrated Curriculum
8.	學校本位課程發展	School-based Curriculum Development
9.	課程評鑑	Curriculum Evaluation
10.	協同教學	Team Teaching
11.	學習階段	Learning Stages
12.	學力指標	Academic Attainment Indicators	指課程實施後，教育行政機關或學術機構針對學生習得的實際學習成就加以評量而得的常模性指標。
13.	學力測驗	Academic Attainment Testing
14.	基本能力	Core Competence
15.	能力指標	Competence Indicators or Benchmarks	指各學習領域課程綱要的分段能力指標。
16.	彈性學習節數	Alternative Learning Periods
17.	課程理念	Curriculum Rationale
18.	教學評量	Instructional Assessment
19.	語文	Language Arts
20.	國語	Mandarin
21.	英語	English
22.	鄉土語言	Dialects
23.	綜合活動	Integrative Activities
24.	生活課程	Life Curriculum
25.	數學	Mathematics
26.	自然與生活科技	Science and Technology
27.	社會	Social Studies
28.	健康與體育	Health and Physical Education
29.	資訊教育	Information Technology Education
30.	藝術與人文	Arts and Humanities
31.	環境教育	Environmental Education
32.	兩性教育	Gender Education
33.	人權教育	Human Rights Education
34.	生涯發展教育	Career Development Education
35.	家政教育	Home Economics Education
36.	學校課程發展委員會	Committee of School Curriculum Development
37.	學習領域	Learning Areas

From 塩米粉 (Salty rice noodles) to 制天險 (Overcoming nature's obstacles)

It took me hours to learn to read the texts engraved above the entrance of the Old Caoling Tunnel (舊草嶺隧道) on Fulong (福隆) side and thought I shall share it with you.

From Old Caoling Tunnel 舊草嶺隧道 10/11/2010

It took me hours trying to decipher this three words... with these three words decoded by me initially as "塩米粉" (Salty rice noodles) for hours... even after I read from official sources what these words are in Chinese... 8-O lol... (Though no disrespect intended to those who sacrificed themselves to complete the construction of this tunnel.)

Apparently, these three characters engraved in cursive script reads "制天險" (Overcoming nature's obstacles) from right to left.  If you read it the conventional way (the convention today) of from left to right, you would get  "險天制."

Yet, if "險天制" still looks more like "塩米粉," it's because the characters are in cursive script rather than in standard script.  The knowledge of them characters are in cursive script didn't help me a bit since, though the cursive script is also Chinese writing, it's as Greek as Greek to me.

So... let's break it down step by step like what I did...

The cursive script of 險 (the obstacles part or risk) is as the following... which now looks more similar to the characters on the left side.

The cursive script of 制 (the overcoming part) is as the following... which now looks more similar to the characters on the right.

As for 天 (the nature part), the character in the middle, which is difficult to see because of the dangling plants from above, it looks like the following in cursive script.

So, let me put these three characters in the right order for you horizontally...


Though still looking mighty like 塩米粉, it does now look more like the following...

And... don't forget to read the characters from right to left... then you get... 制天險

So it is... how I overcame my "salty rice noodles" to reach "overcoming nature's obstacles."

Neurosis 精神官能症

Heard of this term before but never quite understood what it was... 精神官能症.

Then, I heard of it again today...  精神官能症 while still have no idea what the heck it is...

Ended up...  精神官能症 is neurosis la!

Apparently, I know neurosis but not  精神官能症... while Chinese my first language... lol 8-X

帶塞 （shitluck)

I have never heard of the phrase "帶塞" (Dài sāi) in Mandarin my entire life until last year... When asking my mom where this expression might have come front tonight, I realized that she had no clue such an expression exists.

I was once told that the 塞(Sāi) in 帶塞 (Dài sāi) might have come from the word "屎" in Taiwanese, which is pronounced as (Sāi).  In this case, the direct translation of 帶塞 (Dài sāi) would be "carry shit" with 帶 meaning "carry" and 塞, in Taiwanese, meaning "shit."  In other words, when someone is 帶塞,  it means the person is well-endowed with shitluck... or a magnet of sheer bad luck.
However, earlier tonight, I found an interesting posting online where the author, drawing references from ancient Chinese history, tried to make the argument that the expression "帶塞" (Dài sāi) actually came out over 2000 years ago all the way back in the Han dynasty and is related to the tough luck 蘇武 (Su Wu) had when  assigned the task of "帶團出使塞外" (leading the diplomatic team on a mission beyond the Great Wall).  Because of this mission, 蘇武 (Su Wu) endured 19 years of pure suffering.  This is why people considered "帶團出使塞外" (leading the diplomatic team on a mission beyond the Great Wall)--shortened as 帶塞 (Dài sāi) as pure shitluck...  Really interesting argument although I am not quite sure how true it is... lol

How can you use this expression?

Some people dare not watch the ball game because they feel they are very 帶塞 (Dài sāi).

ㄍㄨㄢ ㄕㄨㄛ

Don't know why I though the 說 in 關說 should be a 破音字... instead of sounding like ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄛ  [guan shuo] ... I thought it should sound like ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄟˋ [guan shui].

Apparently, according to this dictionary, something's wrong with my memory (like I don't know that something's wrong with my memory 8-O lol).

Almost like the a delusion, I believe that I was once taught it to be ㄍㄨㄢ　ㄕㄨㄟˋ.

How does it matter anyways?

So I see in the contemporary dictionary maintained by the Department of Education.

ㄉㄢˋ 定紅茶

They were talking about this story of "ㄉㄢˋ 定紅茶“ in the office the other day... a story about breaking up.  Sort of.

When they first mentioned "ㄉㄢˋ 定紅茶“, I thought it was a new flavor of bubble tea kinda stuff--

蛋定紅茶- black tea solidi-zed with eggs... turning it sort of like Flan or egg pudding... 

Ended up, my mental model of  ㄉㄢˋ 定 is not their mental model of ㄉㄢˋ 定.... or ㄉㄢˋ 定非ㄉㄢˋ 定。 8-O lol

The ㄉㄢˋ 定 they were speaking of is 淡定- not my 蛋定.

Afterwards, the phrase 淡定 popped up left and right wherever I went... So I decided to google up some good definition 

What is 淡定?  Essentially, it means calm... so calm that even the sky collapsed right in front of you, you don't get affected.  Some said that it is a phrase used in China.

Would like to share with you this impressive definition provided by someone with mucho expertise in Chinese literature.... very impressive....

淡定：冷靜，鎮定
《黃帝內經》稱之為：恬淡虛無。現代人稱之為：淡定。

淡 定二字，看似輕鬆，境界頗高。紅塵滾滾，物欲橫流、肉欲橫流，欲望一起，猶如惹惱了瘋狗，追得人屁滾尿流。人生在世，難逃三個字：名、利、情。為其生，為 其死，為其追求一輩子。修行或者修煉，最忌諱的就是執著。執著，就很難看淡，所以也就無法“淡”，更是不能“定”得下來。

淡定，是內在心態的修煉到一定程度所呈現出來的那種從容、優雅的感覺。
淡定，是一種心態，是生活的一種狀態。我們每個人都需要這種心態，在生活中才會處之泰然，寵辱不驚，不會太過興奮而忘乎所以，也不是太過悲傷而痛不欲生。

許地山《空山靈雨·銀翎底使命》：“惟有幾朵山花在我們眼前淡定地看那在溪澗裡逆行的魚兒喋著它們底殘瓣。”

歐陽山《苦鬥》五二：“最後一位大姑娘，看上去正在二十左右，也輕盈淡定地站了起來。”

淡定形容一種態度。遇事沉穩中又積極果斷，老練裡卻又重視有佳，勝不驕，敗不餒；

淡定形容一種勇氣。行事放鬆自如，從容冷靜，閑看庭前花落，輕搖羽扇城頭；

淡定形容一種原則。展示出對人對事不急不躁、不溫不火，親而有度、順而有持；

淡定形容一種風度。神鷹背上秋風過面、靜若處子，名利場中燈紅酒綠、過眼雲煙；

淡定形容一種修養。仁而無憂，仁而無懼，實事求是，心懷坦蕩，蘭心傲骨；

淡定形容一種能力。深思熟慮能揚長避短，內省自知可有進有退，待該出手時再出手；

淡定形容一種力量。氣定神寧，如巨岩阻浪，堅持不懈，如水滴石穿；

淡定形容一種效率。穩而避其亂，洞悉而練達，如庖丁演刀、如魯班弄斧；

淡定形容一種境界。蘭秀深林，不以無人而不芳，君子立德，不為窘困而改節；

淡定形容一種人生。人生如一副銳利的老花鏡，難得糊塗，難得清醒。

淡 定是形容詞，不是動詞，不是一個動作，不是一種方法。所以淡定不能直接解決你肚子餓的問題，不能直接阻止環境污染，不能……。但是，淡定能輔助和提升一種 方法，讓你在解決肚子餓的問題時、解決環境污染的問題時，解決任何問題時，提供給你一個正確的態度，和超人的勇氣、過人的力量…….，幫助你更好的解決問 題。因此，淡定，是我們做任何事前必不可少的心理準備。

http://tw.knowledge.yahoo.com/question/question?qid=1610120208969

正念 (Mindfulness)

This friend of mine posted something about he was learning to live life with 正念.

Interesting phrase that I have never seen before... 正念 as opposed to 不正念？

So I googled it up and realized  正念 in Chinese might be Mindfulness (awareness) in English... essentially being in the present... though I am still not quite sure what exactly it means to be in the present.

規準

What is 規準 in English, especially in the reign of evaluation?

Criterion or criteria.

Essentially, you set up the evaluation criteria before moving on to define the indicators.

評鑑指標

評鑑指標 sounds really grand and scary.

Then, I realize... essentially, it means evaluation indicators in English. lol

學校本位?

Been reading about this terminology called 學校本位 as in 學校本位課程發展評鑑.

Sounds so... wow... grand.

All words are understood although the phrase sounds like Greek to me.

Then, in one of the paper, the author kindly provided the original English expression for this, I assume, translated term.

Also, 學校本位 means School-based and 學校本位評鑑 means school-based evaluation. #$%^&*