ANSWER:
청자양각연화당초상감모란문은구발
靑磁陽刻蓮花唐草象嵌牡丹文銀釦鉢
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Things I notice while studying the Korean language
ANSWER: They are the only 객's in the Korean language.
The Chinese character 客 (객) means "a guest," but it can also mean "extra," superfluous," or "uncalled for." And 喀 (객) and 䘔 (객) both mean "to vomit" or "to spit," though the character 䘔 (객) suggests vomiting "blood" (血 혈).
Here are some interesting Korean words with the character 客 in them:
ANSWER: Well, in Korea, 馬脚 (마각) means "horse's (馬) leg (脚)," but in China, it means "a horse's foot" or "hoof," though there seems to be some confusion since 脚 (각) can mean both "leg" and "foot" in certain regions of China.
I have read, however, that in Mandarin Chinese, 脚 (각) is usually used to mean "foot" or "feet," such as in 小脚 (소각), which literally means "small (小) feet (脚)," and 大脚 (대각), which literally means "big (大) feet (脚)." In China, the word 小脚 (소각) refers to "bound feet," feet that have been deformed by the old Chinese practice of binding women's feet to make them look smaller. Women with small feet were considered to be more beautiful in ancient China. And the word 大脚 (대각) refers to "naturally formed feet," which apparently were considered to be ugly for a woman.
There seems to be two Chinese words for "foot-binding." One is 裹脚 (과각) and the other is 纏足 (전족) and both of them literally mean "to wrap or package (裹/纏) feet (脚/足)." The Chinese character 足 (족) can also mean "foot" and is the character that Koreans prefer to use for "foot." So, Koreans usually use the Sino-Korean word 전족 (纏足) to refer to "foot-binding."
Anyway, the idiom 마각을 드러내다 literally means "to show or expose horse feet" or "a horse foot" but is used to mean "to reveal one's true character," seemingly in a negative way. So, 마각 (馬脚) can mean either "horse feet" or "one's true character."
I have read that the expression 마각을 드러내다 comes from a story about the wife of the founder of China's Ming Dynasty. Her family name was supposedly 馬 (마), which is also the character used to mean "horse." Ms. Ma supposedly had "big feet" (大脚), meaning that her feet had not been bound and deformed when she was a child. Ms. Ma was ashamed of her unbound feet because only ugly women had unbound feet in ancient China. Therefore, Ms. Ma always tried hide her "big feet," probably by wearing long gowns. However, one day while getting out of a carriage, Ms. Ma's "big feet" were exposed, revealing her secret or "true character" to the public, which supposedly caused people to start referring to "unbound feet" as 馬脚 (마각).
However, the story does not make sense to me. First, why would the founder of the Ming Dynasty marry a woman with "big feet"? Second, feet that have been deformed by binding look more like "horse feet" than feet that are naturally formed. So, I think that Ms. Ma probably had bound feet, not unbound feet, and that on that day she forgot to put on her fancy shoes before getting out of her carriage, thereby exposing her deformed "horse feet" to the public.
ANSWER: Well, according to my Korean-English dictionary it does.
재봉 means "sewing," and 도구통 can translate as "tool kit." So, instead of 재봉도구통 meaning "housewife," wouldn't a better translation be "sewing kit," unless it is also used as some kind of slang expression? Korean does have a lot of crazy slang, but "a housewife" is actually English slang for "a sewing kit."
By the way, why did they translate 여자는 as "She" in the example sentence 여자는 재봉을 잘한다? I would have translated 여자는 as "Women," but if a previous sentence had mentioned a particular man, then I guess 여자는 could be referring to a particular woman. In other words, "She" could have been used to contrast a particular woman with a particular man, a man who is not good at sewing.
Finally, besides meaning "professor," the word 교수 can also mean "teaching" or "instruction," which is why 재봉 교수 is translated below as "instruction in needlework." Personally, I have never met a "sewing professor."
ANSWER: It literally means "my husband and wife," but . . . .
Today, I was reading my favorite Korean bathroom book when I came across the phrase "우리 부부," which literally means "my husband and wife" but is used by Koreans to mean "my spouse." I am reading this book for the third time, by the way, so I had come across the phrase before, more than 15 years ago, and then wrote about it here in this blog but today did not remember doing it, so I Googled "우리부부" and was reminded of that fact. I guess it still bothers me. ANSWER: It depends. In China, 結束 (결속) means "to end," "to finish," or "to conclude," but in Korea, it means "union," "unity," or "solidarity."
I am not sure if it was China or Korea, but one of them has screwed up.
一位醫生在做完急診後已是午夜, 正準備回家.
When a doctor finishes his shift in the emergency room, it
is already midnight as he prepares to go home.
走到電梯門口, 見一女護理師, 便一同乘電梯下樓.
He walks to the elevator entrance and sees a female nurse. They
then take the elevator down together.
可電梯到了一樓還不停, 一直向下.
But when the elevator arrives at the first floor, it doesn’t
stop and still continues downward.
到了B3時門開了電梯門開了.
When it arrives at sublevel 3, and the elevator door opens.
一個小女孩出現在他們眼前低著頭說要搭電梯.
A little girl appears in front of them and, with her head
lowered, she says she wants to get on the elevator.
醫生見狀急忙關上電梯門. 護理師奇怪地問: “爲什麽不讓她上來?”
Upon seeing this, the doctor hastily closes the elevator
door. Baffled, the nurse asks, “Why didn’t you let her get on?”
醫生說: B3是我們醫院的太平間. 醫院給每個屍體的右手都綁了 一根紅絲帶.她的右手, 她的右手有一根紅絲帶.
The doctor says, “Sublevel 3 is our hospital’s morgue, and the hospital always ties a red ribbon
around the right wrist of every corpse. Her right wrist, on her right wrist,
there was a red ribbon.”
護士聽了漸漸伸出右手陰笑一聲說: “是不是這樣的一根紅絲帶啊?”
Hearing this, the nurse gradually extends her right hand,
and with an evil laugh asks, “Was it like this red ribbon?”