ANSWER: Delicious Why do the Chinese call this dish "Ants (螞蟻 마의) Climbing a Tree (上樹 상수)"? ANSWER: Because when they hold up the noodles with their chopsticks, they think that the ground beef that is stuck to each noodle looks like ants climbing up a tree (the noodle). The Chinese have not only interesting food but also interesting food names ..read more

ANSWER: When a doctor is looking in his or her mouth. Doctor: "Open (張開 장개) mouth (嘴 취) [and] say (說 설) 'Ahh ..read more

ANSWER: I don't want to tell you right now, but I will give you a hint. 太平間 (태평간) literally means "a very (太) peaceful (平) room." To find out what that means, you need to read the story below.   一(일)位(위)醫(의)生(생)在(재)做(주)完(완)急(급)診(진)後(후)已(이)是(시)午(오)夜(야), 正(정)準(준)備(비)回(회)家(가). When a doctor finishes his shift in the emergency room, it is already midnight as he prepares to go home. 走(주)到(도)電(전)梯(제)門(문)口(구), 見(견)一(일)女(여)護(호)理(리)師(사), 便(편)一(일)同(동)乘(승)電(전)梯(제)下(하)樓(루). He walks to the elevator entrance and sees a female nurse. They then take the elevator down together ..read more

ANSWER: Well, according to the video below, 1.7 million characters were used, and of those 4,026 were unique characters. So, to read the seven books of the Harry Potter series in traditional Chinese without a dictionary, you would need to know more than 4,000 characters. So, how long would it take to read the Harry Potter series in Chinese? ANSWER: Well, just to count to 1.7 million in English would take more than 472 hours if you could count 1 number every second. That is equivalent to about 19.7 days. So, it would take you more than 19 days to read the Harry Potter series in Chinese if you c ..read more

ANSWER: As a noun, 地道 (지도) can mean either "tunnel" or "causeway," but as an adjective, it means either "authentic," "genuine," or "proper." By itself, the character 地 (지) can mean "ground," "earth," "land" or "place." And by itself, 道 (도) can mean either "road" or "path." So, together 地道 (지도) literally means "ground (地) road (道)," where "ground" seems to mean "underground." So, in China, I guess the phrase 地道地道 (지도지도) could be translated as "a (一個) real (地道) tunnel (地道)," not a fake one. By the way, in Taiwan, 地道 (지도) is also used to mean "tunnel," but it is not used to mean "authentic." I ..read more

ANSWER: taxi Why does 的士 (적사) mean "taxi" in China? ANSWER: Apparently because its Chinese pronunciation is similar to that of the English word "taxi" /dīshì/.  The Chinese word 的士 (적사) can also be shortened to just 的 /dī/, as in the words 的哥 (적가) and 的姐 (적저), which literally mean "taxi (的) elder brother (哥)" and "taxi (的 elder sister (姐)." In other words, 的哥 translates as "male taxi driver," and 的姐 as "female taxi driver." But what does 的哥的姐 (적가적저) mean when they are written together? Does the combination mean "male taxi drivers (的哥) and female taxi drivers (的姐)? Or does it mean ..read more

ANSWER: Because in Chinese Culture, a clock is "a symbol of the end of life." That is why the grandfather in the following sentence is angry when he receives a clock as a gift. (The sentence comes from the book Schaum's Outlines: Chinese Grammar.) 我(아)送(송)給(급)爺(야)爺(야)一(일)個(개)鐘(종). 爺(야)爺(야)不(불)但(단)不(불)高(고)興(흥), 反(반)而(이)非(비)常(상)生(생)氣(기). I 我 gave 送給 grandfather 爺椰 a 一個 clock 鐘. Grandfather 爺爺 was not only 不但 not 不 happy 高興, on the contrary 反而, [he] was extremely 非常 angry 生氣. It reminds me of the old song "My Grandfather's Clock."    a ..read more

 ANSWER: hungry (餓) ghost (鬼) Since it is getting close to Halloween, here is a short Chinese ghost story from the Chinese grammar book Schaum's Outlines: Chinese Grammar. I did, however, add the Korean pronunciations to the Chinese characters from the book. 城(성)西(서)邊(변)有(유)一(일)所(소)房(방)子(자). 房(방)子(자)又(우)大(대)又(우)老(노). 沒(몰)有(유)人(인)住(주). On the town’s 城 west side 西邊 there is 有 a 一所 house 房子. The house 房子 is both 又 big 大 and 又 old老. No one 沒有人 lives 住 [there]. 有(유)人(인)說(설)房(방)子(자)裏(리)有(유)鬼(괴). 還(환)說(설)如(여)果(과)你(니)要(요)跟(근)鬼(괴)做(주)朋(붕)友(우), 你(니)得(득)拿(나)飯(반)進(진)去(거)給(급)鬼(괴)吃(흘). Some peopl ..read more

ANSWER: Very difficult. I have always suspected that the Korean language was originally just an old Chinese dialect instead of some unique language with unknown origins, as many scholars seem to suggest. There are just too many similarities between the Korean and Chinese languages. Moreover, Korea is just too close to China geographically to have been able to avoid the influence of the Chinese language over the past few thousand years.  Anyway, the video below made me wonder how Koreans learned to pronounce the tens of thousands of Chinese characters before the invention of Hangeul ..read more

 ANSWER: All of the above. Why are the Korean words for "rearview mirror" all Western loanwords: 룸미러 (room mirror), 백미러 (back mirror), 인사이드미러 (inside mirror), and 리어뷰미러 (rearview mirror)? Instead, why not use the Chinese word 後視鏡 (후시경), which literally means "rear (後) view (視) mirror (鏡)"? Today, I was reading something in Korean and, for the first time, came across the word 룸미러 (room mirror), and I am still shaking my heard wondering how and why Koreans came up with such an odd word for "rearview mirror." For some reason, it bothers when I read something in Korean that is full of ..read more