Stuff in the mail! CNY card!

[derien]

I have received The MOST Beautifulest Chinese New Year Card EVER from bravecows!  And so has eor.  (Yes, we can both have THE most beautiful card, because our cards actually occupy the same space. :))  And I have a beautiful little red silk (I guess?  It feels like silk to me.) drawstring purse that has a shoulder-carry string which cleverly tucks inside it - just in time, too, because I'm killing my sequined elephant purse - and eor got a little scary face necklace which is very manly.  *nods*  (Although bravecows suggested that if he didn't want to wear it he could hang it up and tell it stories.)  Personally I think it will look great on eor. ;) 

I had wondered why fish were associated with CNY - apparently the word for 'fish' sounds similar to the word for 'extra' (extra in the sense of 'more than just enough').  I love puns. :)  I wonder if that's where Pratchett got the idea for the Borogravian phrase about the world being a great big fish?  Although he could just as well have drawn it from the world being likened to an oyster.  A language always has to have some concepts that just don't really translate.

Comments

[phoenikoi.livejournal.com]

Specifically, leftovers :) I could attempt to write out the saying in pinyin, but I would muck it up horribly I'm sure. I think it translates to something like: "There is always leftovers." It's one of my favourite phrases!

[bravecows.livejournal.com]

Don't listen to phoenikoi, Doe, she is telling you lies. The saying means "year year got fish" and comes from the ancient Chinese love for seafood. If you have seafood every year, every year is a good year!

I am so glad you like the thingies. *heart* But they are horribly late! I sent them ages an' ages ago. The purse is s'posed to be silk, but perhaps it is not, because I bought it in China and people in China are forever selling you things that are not quite the things they are said to be.

[phoenikoi.livejournal.com]

It does translate to "There is always leftovers"! (Even if the literal IS "year year got fish" hee) All the aunts and grandmothers and my mother - well, okay, my mother might be wrong. But still!

My dad was very pleased with himself for bargaining down the prices of some souvenirs we bought in Beijing but we found the exact same things in a different stall the next day for half the price. Oh, China.

[bravecows.livejournal.com]

(The literal is actually "year year got leftovers". But SHHHH. Fish is funnier.)