Funny. Back in January I more or less began to start to look into Japanese as though I were interested in learning it. And just two days ago I ran into 羔 (starting from 美, then 羊; kanji are truly fascinating).
Well, I went and picked my shirts up yesterday afternoon, and they were all fine, including the one with the stain. I felt like a housewife in a commercial from when we were little: "New-formula Tide really DOES get out the toughest stains without damaging fine fabrics!" Though I think they used dry-cleaning solution. So no souvenir for me, Maria. Guess I'll just have to get those the old-fashioned gay way: shopping!
I'm not sure which lamb-related fluid they thought it was, John. I wrote something like 羊汁, which is probably illiterate-sounding (or maybe it means "lanolin" in Chinese?). But all's well that ends well.
BTW, Marzo, that character isn't the usual way こひつじ is written, though it's seen in names and things sometimes. Not trying to be a pedant--just hoping that if you ever go to Japan, you won't be thinking no one ever talks about lamb because you don't see 羔 anywhere. :)
Hey, any information is welcome; thanks! :-) I already suspected as much, based on 1) your not mentioning 羔, and 2) that it doesn't appear in the three different spellings (if this is not the word when speaking of Chinese characters, please be a pedant to me) of こひつじ listed in this dictionary.
By the way, if by any chance it looked as if I was trying to be pedantic, I was not. I reckon that you have spent more years living in Japanese than I have spent weeks haphazardly looking at it. It is simply that I am half bewildered, half delighted by the quirkiness of kanji. (Take that "beauty is a plump, big sheep" thing, for instance, if zhongwen.com is to be trusted...)
It was interesting spending a few months in Taipei because, of course, to me, Chinese writing looks like Japanese on steroids--sentences are all kanji. The Japanese syllabaries have fewer strokes each than kanji, so sentences in Japanese have more white space. Chinese sentences look packed in and kind of claustrophobic to my eye.
And no, I didn't think you were being pedantic. Kanji are fun, sort of like an Erector Set when you're figuring out how to put the parts together to make different stuff. They bring out your inner little boy.
Too bad you're leaving. I'll be in Taipei on 11 April. I was in Tokyo for a couple of days last week, too.
Too bad you're leaving. I'll be in Taipei on 11 April. I was in Tokyo for a couple of days last week, too.
I'm not sure which lamb-related fluid they thought it was, John. I wrote something like 羊汁, which is probably illiterate-sounding (or maybe it means "lanolin" in Chinese?). But all's well that ends well.
BTW, Marzo, that character isn't the usual way こひつじ is written, though it's seen in names and things sometimes. Not trying to be a pedant--just hoping that if you ever go to Japan, you won't be thinking no one ever talks about lamb because you don't see 羔 anywhere. :)
By the way, if by any chance it looked as if I was trying to be pedantic, I was not. I reckon that you have spent more years living in Japanese than I have spent weeks haphazardly looking at it. It is simply that I am half bewildered, half delighted by the quirkiness of kanji. (Take that "beauty is a plump, big sheep" thing, for instance, if zhongwen.com is to be trusted...)
And no, I didn't think you were being pedantic. Kanji are fun, sort of like an Erector Set when you're figuring out how to put the parts together to make different stuff. They bring out your inner little boy.