Ted
@ted_huang
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Joined January 2012
What a beautiful day for a walk, with all the autumn colors against the blue sky and white clouds 🐶🍁🥰. #秋色
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𘜶𗗚𗓰𗾟，𗱕𗋽𗰖𘏚 "The great sea is vast and deep, all the waters are gathered there". RIP Mr. West 🙏
10 июля умер Эндрю Вест - один из лучших людей, котор��х я знал. Честный, прямой, верный, мудрый, ранимый. Лучший знаток древних письменностей, создатель множества шрифтов, точно имеющий дар слышать мысли их создателей, давно ушедших. Теперь ушёл и он.
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廣東話是鳥語 Cantonese is “bird language” ?. Well, listen for yourself how the phrase 各個國家有各個國家嘅國歌 (Every country has its national anthem) sounds like in Cantonese 🐓🐓🐓😂.
"Every country has its national anthem" can be expressed in Cantonese as: .gok3 go3 g(w)ok3 gaa1 jau5 gok3 go3 g(w)ok3 gaa1 ge3 g(w)ok3 go1 各個國家有各個國家嘅國歌.which sounds like a chicken clucking 🤣
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Interestingly in the Japanese-Taiwanese dictionary 日臺小辭典/臺灣總督府編 (1908), under the Japanese entry 欝憂 ウッ ユウ (utsu yū), the corresponding Taiwanese words are written as. 欝悶 ウッ ブヌ (utsu-bun).憂悶 イウ ブヌ (iu-bun).憂欝 イウ ウッ (iu-utsu)
憂鬱 in Japanese is pronounced /yūutsu/ from Middle Chinese pronunciation for 憂鬱 'juw 'jut. In Taiwanese/Hokkien, this compound word 憂鬱 is pronounced /ut-tsut/ which is written today as 鬱卒 (憂鬱 can be also read as /iu-ut/ in literary reading 文讀音)
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For the record, ‘ut-tsut’ was also included in the Chinese-English dictionary of the vernacular or spoken language of Amoy : with the principal variations of the Chang-Chew and Chin-Chew dialects (1873) by Carstairs Douglas (1830-1877), aka 廈英大辭典
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The reason Taiwan Ministry of Education 教育部 has recommended writing ‘ut-tsut’ as 鬱悴 or 鬱卒 is likely because these characters were used in Taiwanese-Japanese dictionaries from the 1930s. It’s my opinion the “original” characters for ‘ut-tsut’ is 憂鬱
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憂鬱 in Japanese is pronounced /yūutsu/ from Middle Chinese pronunciation for 憂鬱 'juw 'jut. In Taiwanese/Hokkien, this compound word 憂鬱 is pronounced /ut-tsut/ which is written today as 鬱卒 (憂鬱 can be also read as /iu-ut/ in literary reading 文讀音)
I’m a native Japanese speaker, but I hate this kanji. I feel depressed when I have to write it😭. 憂鬱, which means depressed
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《季姬擊雞記》by 趙元任. 季姬寂，集雞，雞即棘雞。棘雞飢嘰，季姬及箕稷濟雞。雞既濟，躋姬笈，季姬忌，急咭雞，雞急，繼圾幾，季姬急，即籍箕擊雞，箕疾擊幾伎，伎即齑，雞嘰集幾基，季姬急極屐擊雞，雞既殛，季姬激，即記《季姬擊雞記》。.
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All this “bird talk” reminds me of this classic homophonic piece 季姬擊雞記 “Ji Ji hit the chicken” by the linguist 趙元任 Chao Yuen Ren (1892 - 1982). #普通話也是鳥語.
Meanwhile, any unintellegible language - whether another Sinitic language or an unrelated language altogether - is described in Chinese as ‘bird language’ 鳥語. Mencius has a passage speaking of the ‘shrike-tongued barbarians of the south’ 南蠻鴃舌之人…
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Milestone birthdays of longevity in Japan:. 60歳還暦（かんれき）.70歳古希（こき）.77歳喜寿（きじゅ）.80歳傘寿（さんじゅ）.88歳米寿（べいじゅ）.90歳卒寿（そつじゅ）.99歳白寿（はくじゅ）.100歳百寿（ももじゅ）または紀寿（きじゅ）
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When written in cursive, the Kanji 喜 (happy, joyful) looks like 㐂 which resembles the number 七十七 (seventy-seven) written vertically. This is why one's 77 birthday is called 喜寿 (Kiju) in Japan and celebrated as a milestone for longevity
Auspicious kanji of the day (7/7/2025):. 㐂 a triplication of 七 (seven) which is a variant of 喜 based on the cursive script of 喜 and pronounced the same way. 㐂 means “happy”, “joy” and is often used in shop signs or product names in Japan. Lucky 7 x 3 😇
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The entire collection of these fifty Taiwanese jokes (臺灣笑話集 by 川合真永, 1915) can be read at the link below which also has English translation for each funny story. The one above is titled 後月初五 “On the 5th day of next month”.
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臺灣笑話集 by 川合真永 (1915) a collection of Taiwanese jokes written in vernacular Taiwanese with Japanese translation. It’s incredible to me how the Japanese could write Taiwanese in Chinese characters so well back when Taiwanese themselves weren’t doing it
People may be surprised it was the Japanese when they ruled Taiwan (1895-1945) who first systematically wrote vernacular Taiwanese using Chinese characters (漢字) in dictionaries, magazines, and Taiwanese learning manuals such as those for Japanese police
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Auspicious kanji of the day (7/7/2025):. 㐂 a triplication of 七 (seven) which is a variant of 喜 based on the cursive script of 喜 and pronounced the same way. 㐂 means “happy”, “joy” and is often used in shop signs or product names in Japan. Lucky 7 x 3 😇
けふは令和七年七月七日です。. 七が三つで「㐂」といふ字がありますが、「喜」の異體字で、縁起の良い漢字としてよく使はれます。.
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*the title of his essay is actually 論自由 (not 自由論). BTW, 自由 is another 和製漢語 which like 經濟 appeared in ancient Chinese texts but as a verb phrase meaning “to follow oneself.” 自由 was “repurposed”by the Japanese for the modern concept of “freedom”.
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經濟 (economy) is one of many 和製漢語 “Japanese-made Chinese words” that 梁啟超 Liang Qichao (1873-1929) borrowed from the Japanese and introduced to the Chinese lexicon of his time through his writings. He used 經濟 in his essay “On Freedom” 自由論 (1902)
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Music that cleanses the soul. Yo-Yo Ma plays one of the first pieces he learned with his teacher Leonard Rose whom he studied cello with from age 9 to 16 at Juilliard. 🎶 Francoeur: Violin Sonata in E major (transcribed for cello).
instagram.com
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A beautiful moving medley tribute from Crowd Lu 盧廣仲 to a kindred spirit, fellow singer and songwriter Khalil Fong 方大同 who passed away earlier this year at the age of 41.@amisunggggg .
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Ueda Kazutoshi 上田萬年 (1867-1937), who studied linguistics in Germany, was a believer of one country 國家, nation 民族, & language 言語, and a major proponent of a standard Japanese “national language” 國語. One of his early work is the book 國語論 (1895)
The older usage of 國語 for Jurchen, Mongol, Manchu etc. lacked this homogenizing normativity (1 nation = 1 state = 1 language) that came along with global 19th-ct. discourses on national languages, first introduced to Asia via Japan. 2/.
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