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Language Log
Gyro, part 2
There's a chain of about half-a-dozen fast food restaurants called Gyro Shack in Boise, Idaho, where I find myself now. They're cool little shops, just as Boise is a cool (big-)little city spread across a broad, flat plain (nearly three thousand feet in elevation) that lies at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
Several things about gyros perplex me. One is how the cones of meat on the vertical, rotating spit cohere and do not fall to pieces, but docilely hanging in place oozing their mouthwatering juices waiting to be sliced off, layer after layer. One traditional gyro meat recipe states: "Processing the meat in the food processor and overworking it ensures that the proteins in the meat stick together, like sausage." (source) I still don't get it, since sausage has a casing to hold it together.
Never mind about that physical matter for now, What really bothers me (and lots of other people), is how to pronounce that four-letter word.
Some people say "hero", others pronounce it as in "gyroscope", one person told me to pronounce it like the name of the official currency of the European Union, and so on.
Here are some phonetic transcriptions: /ˈjiː.ɹoʊ/, /ˈjɪɹoʊ/, /ˈʒɪɹoʊ/, /ˈd͡ʒaɪɹoʊ/
Audio recordings here.
Another puzzlement: like so many classical, canonical foods of the Mediterranean (baklava, kebab, kofta, meze, taramasalata, etc., etc.), is gyro a Greek food or a Turkish food — or ultimately Arabic or Persian (and which way?), with a bit of Italian tossed (!) in?
Here's the etymology for gyro: Back-formation from the plural gyros, from Greek γύρος (gýros); from the turning of the meat on a spit (as a calque of Turkish döner into Greek). Doublet of gyre and gyrus.
(Wiktionary)
sandwich made from roasted lamb, 1971, originally in reference to the meat itself, as roasted on a rotating spit, from Modern Greek gyros "a circle" (see gyre (n.)). Mistaken in English for a plural and shorn of its -s.
(Etymonline)
Once Gyro Shack breaks out of Boise, it may become part of the giant fast food industry, or maybe, like Nebraskan-Eastern European runza, it will remain an ethnic, regional specialty — except that gyros are already everywhere as street food. Somehow, they seem to resist industrialization and business models. They are the niche food of niche foods. Selected readings
* "Gyro" (6/26/20)
* "Nontrivial script fail" (5/18/11) — 7th comment
* "'Ingenious herd of charcoal fire'" (4/5/11)
* "Why Do Canadians Eat Donair?" (4/13/07)
* "If you're uneducated you say it right" (2/2/09) — in the comments
* "Ajvar and caviar" (8/1/22)
* "Respect the local pronunciation: runza and Henri" (6/13/24)
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Language Log
Is English a "creole language"?
The first two panels of today's SMBC: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/SMBC_KingArthur0.png The rest of the strip: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/SMBC_KingArthur1.png The AfterComic:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/SMBC_KingArthurAfter.png
The mouseover title: "Hoping the Welsh isn't lol."
The premise seems to be that King Arthur has arisen again, to deal with socio-economic crises in today's Britain. I'll leave interpretation of the Arthur legend to others, and focus on the description of English as "this weird French-German creole language".
We can discard the "weird" part as a humorous invocation of what all 6th-century inhabitants of the British Isles might have thought about its now-dominant language.
The introduction of French into the English stew was of course several centuries after Arthur's (fictional) time — but the question of whether English should be described as a "French-German creole language" is a small part of a larger controversy over what a "creole language" is, whether it is a category with sharp boundaries, which languages belong in the category (or belong where on a spectrum of creole-ness), and even whether the whole category is problematic.
The Wikipedia article starts with this definition:
A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the process of different languages simplifying and mixing into a new form (often a pidgin), and then that form expanding and elaborating into a full-fledged language with native speakers, all within a fairly brief period.
For a carefully-reasoned argument against Middle English (the French-German hybrid) belonging in the creole-language category, we can cite Manfred Görlach's 1986 chapter "Middle English – a creole?":
Among various new approaches creolistics, the investigation and description of pidgin and Creole languages, has proved to be a most stimulating, if to many scholars controversial, discipline. […]
The attraction that pidgin and Creole languages have held for many scholars has prompted historical linguists to look for earlier language states or situations comparable to those that led to the formation of pidgins and Creoles in post-Renaissance societies. Most Romance languages, Yiddish, Middle English, Bulgarian, or even the Germanic languages as a group within the Indo-European family of languages, have all been compared with, or even claimed to be, creole languages. […]
Unless simplification and language mixture are thought to be sufficient criteria for the definition of a Creole or creoloid (and I do not think they are, since this would make most languages of the world Creoles, and the term would consequently lose its distinctiveness), then Middle English does not appear to be a creole.
The Wikipedia article's section on Controversy offers a useful sketch of the issues. A sketch of the sketch:
Creoleness is at the heart of the controversy with John McWhorter and Mikael Parkvall opposing Henri Wittmann and Michel DeGraff. In McWhorter's definition, creoleness is a matter of degree, in that prototypical creoles exhibit all of the three traits he proposes to diagnose creoleness: little or no inflection, little or no tone, and transparent derivation. In McWhorter's view, less prototypical creoles depart somewhat from this prototype. […] Objections to the McWhorter-Parkvall hypotheses point out that these typological parameters of creoleness can be found in languages such as Manding, Sooninke, and Magoua French which are not considered creoles. Wittmann and DeGraff come to the conclusion that efforts to conceive a yardstick for measuring creoleness in any scientifically meaningful way have failed so far. […] Mufwene (2000) and Wittmann (2001) have argued further that Creole languages are structurally no different from any other lang[...]
Slang of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
kisser
the mouth
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Idiom of the Day
a line in the sand
A figurative boundary that someone or some group refuses to cross or beyond which no further advance or compromise is accepted. (Used especially in the phrase "draw a line in the sand.") Watch the video
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Word of the Day
Word of the Day: curtailment
This word has appeared in 10 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?
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Phrasal Verb of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
rule out
If you rule something out, you don't think it's possible.
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Word of the Day
sanguinary
Definition: (adjective) Accompanied by bloodshed.
Synonyms: butcherly, gory, slaughterous.
Usage: A sanguinary encounter seemed daily imminent between the two parties in the streets of Baltimore.
Discuss
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Funny Or Die (Youtube)
Everything is Samuel L. Jackson's Fault (2013) #SamuelLJackson #sketchcomedy
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o knows, maybe one day that sneaky extra "R" will pop out and change the way we see the world (and strawberries). Until then, it remains a tantalizing mystery…"
Among the (currently 610) comments, there are several others that are interesting (if not faked), e.g. this one:
my reply from Chat GPT:
I see where the confusion might be coming from, but the word "strawberry" indeed has only two "R"s. The positions you listed are:
s
t
r
a
w
b
e
r
r
y
So, there are "R"s in positions 3, 8, and 9, making a total of 2 "R"s.
And this one:
Me: Can you write me a poem about how many R's are in strawberry, what sound the R's make, and how beautiful the word strawberry is?
ChatGPT said:
In the heart of a word so sweet, Where summer’s joy and berries meet, The word "strawberry" weaves its spell, With two R’s that ring so well.
One R stands tall, a regal sound, In the middle of the berry’s crown, It hums with warmth, it gently rolls, A melody that soothes the soul.
Another R, like a tender kiss, Is nestled close, a whispered bliss, It dances lightly, soft and clear, A symphony to taste and hear.
Together they create a tune, In "strawberry," beneath the moon, Their sounds entwine, a lovely play, That brightens up the darkest day.
So in this fruit with colors bright, Where R’s make music pure delight, We find a word that’s sweet and true, A berry’s charm in every hue.
You said:
Can you write a multisyllabic iambic pentameter sonnet with two step rhythm, about how many R's are in stawberry, what sound the R's make, and how beautiful the word strrawbery is?
ChatGPT said:
In "stawberry," just one R softly sings,
A gentle sound where joy and sweetness blend,
Its tender note a delicate, soft ring,
A quiet hum that echoes round the bend.
Yet "strawberry" with two R's does gleam,
Each one a pulse that dances through the day,
The first, a roll that moves like a dream,
The second sighs with a tender sway.
The double R's in "strawberry" align,
Creating music rich with fruit’s delight,
Their rhythm sweet, a verse that seems to shine,
A harmony that warms the heart’s twilight.
O "strawberry," your beauty so profound,
In every R, a melody is found.
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Word of the Day
ferment
Definition: (noun) A state of agitation or turbulent change or development.
Synonyms: agitation, fermentation, tempestuousness, unrest.
Usage: In 1789 a ferment arises in Paris; it grows, spreads, and is expressed by a movement of peoples from west to east.
Discuss
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Word of the Day
Word of the Day: illusory
This word has appeared in 28 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?
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Phrasal Verb of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
beat up
to hurt someone by punching, kicking or hitting them with a hard object
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Language Log
Words for king: Greek, Tocharian, Sinitic
Sino-Platonic Papers is pleased to announce the publication of its three-hundred-and-fifty-seventh issue: “Resurrecting an Etymology: Greek (w)ánax ‘king’ and Tocharian A nātäk ‘lord,’ and Possible Wider Connections,” by Douglas Q. Adams. (pdf)
ABSTRACT
Examined here is the possible cognancy of Homeric Greek (w)ánax ‘king’ and Tocharian A nātäk ‘lord’ and their respective feminine derivatives (w)ánassa ‘queen’ and nāśi ‘lady.’ ‘King/lord’ may reflect a PIE *wen-h2ǵ-t ‘warlord’ or the like. Further afield is the possibility that a Proto-Tocharian *wnātkä might have been borrowed into Ancient Chinese and been the ancestor of Modern Chinese wáng ‘king.’
All issues of Sino-Platonic Papers are available in full for no charge.
To view our catalog, visit http://www.sino-platonic.org/
Selected readings
* "Tocharo-Sinica" (5/13/24)
* "An early fourth century AD historical puzzle involving a Caucasian people in North China" (1/25/19)
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uage, and that Creole is in fact a sociohistoric concept (and not a linguistic one), encompassing displaced population and slavery. DeGraff & Walicek (2005) discuss creolistics in relation to colonialist ideologies, rejecting the notion that Creoles can be responsibly defined in terms of specific grammatical characteristics. […]
On the other hand, McWhorter points out that in languages such as Bambara, essentially a dialect of Manding, there is ample non-transparent derivation, and that there is no reason to suppose that this would be absent in close relatives such as Mandinka itself. Moreover, he also observes that Soninke has what all linguists would analyze as inflections, and that current lexicography of Soninke is too elementary for it to be stated with authority that it does not have non-transparent derivation.
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Learn English Through Football Podcast: 2024-25: Dark Arts
Читать полностью…
Phrasal Verb of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
get back (2)
If you get something back, it is returned to you after you've lent it, lost it, or had it stolen.
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Word of the Day
thence
Definition: (adverb) From that place; from there.
Synonyms: therefrom.
Usage: The train went south into Switzerland and thence on to Italy
Discuss
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Language Log
Freudian slip of the week
That'll be tough to explain… [image or embed]
— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) September 25, 2024 at 6:00 PM
The material below is taken from my lecture notes for my undergraduate Introduction to Linguistics course at Penn:
In figuring out how the brain works, one standard line of inquiry is to look at how it fails. This approach was first taken to the problem of speech generation by Sigmund Freud, in his 1901 work The Psychopathology of Everyday Life.
Freud focused on the substitution of words either in speech (lapsus linguae, slips of the tongue) or in writing (lapsus calami, slips of the pen). The substitution is contrary to the conscious wishes of the person speaking or writing, and in fact sometimes is subversive of these wishes. The speaker or writer may be unaware of the error, and may be embarrassed when the error is pointed out. Freud believed that such "slips" come from repressed, unconscious desires.
Freud's general term for such errors was "faulty action (Fehleistung)," which has been translated as the pseudo-Greek scientism parapraxis. The colloquial label is "Freudian slip."
In Freud's analysis, a slip of the tongue is a form of self-betrayal. Here are a few of the examples he cited.
The President of the Austrian Parliament said " I take notice that a full quorum of members is present and herewith declare the sitting closed!"
The hotel boy who, knocking at the bishop's door, nervously replied to the question "Who is it?" "The Lord, my boy!"
A member of the House of Commons referred to another as the honourable member for "Central Hell," instead of "Hull."
Another professor says, "In the case of the female genital, in spite of the tempting … I mean, the attempted ….. "
When a lady, appearing to compliment another, says "I am sure you must have thrown this delightful hat together" instead of "sewn it together", no scientific theories in the world can prevent us from seeing in her slip the thought that the hat is an amateur production. Or when a lady who is well known for her determined character says: "My husband asked his doctor what sort of diet ought to be provided for him. But the doctor said he needed no special diet, he could eat and drink whatever I choose," the slip appears clearly as the unmistakable expression of a consistent scheme."
Slips of the tongue often give this impression of abbreviation; for instance, when a professor of anatomy at the end of his lecture on the nasal cavities asks whether his class has thoroughly understood it and, after a general reply in the affirmative, goes on to say: "I can hardly believe that this is so, since persons who can thoroughly understand the nasal cavities can be counted, even in a city of millions, on one finger … I mean, on the fingers of one hand." The abbreviated sentence has its own meaning: it says that there is only one person who understands the subject.
There has been quite a bit of research on slips of the tongue since 1901, and (to the extent that Freud's theory is susceptible of empirical test) this research tends to undermine Freud's conception, and to substitute another one. The characteristics of slips are the result of the information-processing requirements of producing language. If this theory is correct, then slips tell us much less than Freud thought about unconscious intentions, and much more about language structure and use.
Linguistic theory tells us that there is a hierarchy of units below the level of the sentence: phrase, word, morpheme, syllable, syllable-part (such as onset or rhyme), phoneme, phonological feature. Slips can occur at each of these levels. In addition, slips can be of several types: substitution (of one element for another of the same type), exchange (of two elements of the same type within [...]
Language Log
Our supersubstantial rice
"Some idioms and terms pertaining to Japan's favorite grain", by Yuko Tamura, The Japan Times (9/25/24)
Rice is an essential part of the Japanese diet, so naturally it's also a part of the language. In fact, the word for "meal," ご飯 (gohan), also means "cooked rice." Before it's cooked, however, you'll see it referred to as 米 (kome). Below are a few terms and idioms that either use the kanji for rice or refer to it in some form.
* 朝飯前 (Asameshi mae): No sweat, a piece of cake. Something that can be done before breakfast. Ex., それくらい朝飯前だよ (Sore kurai asameshi mae da yo, That’s no trouble at all).
* 日常茶飯事 (Nichijō sahanji): Common, everyday things such as drinking tea or eating food that are a part of daily life. Ex., 彼の遅刻は日常茶飯事だ (Kare no chikoku wa nichijō sahanji da, His being late is a usual thing).
* 同じ釜の飯を食う (Onaji kama no meshi o kuu): A strong friendship forged through thick and thin, typically by sharing meals out of the same pot. The casual verb 食う (kuu) is often replaced by 食べる (taberu, to eat). Ex., 同僚とは同じ釜の飯を食べた仲だ (Dōryō towa onaji kama no meshi o tabeta naka da, My colleague and I have gone through many ups and downs together).
* 冷や飯を食う (Hiyameshi o kuu): Literally meaning, “eat cold rice,” implying receiving poor treatment. Ex., あの人は失言して以来、冷や飯を食わされている (Ano hito wa shitsugen shite irai, hiyameshi o kuwasarete-iru, Since the slip-up, that person has been hung out to dry).
* 実るほど頭を垂れる稲穂かな (Minoru hodo kōbe o tareru inaho kana): People who hold wisdom and virtue become more humble because empty rice stalks are likely to stand upright and full ones bend from the weight of their grains. Ex., 私の座右の銘は「実るほど頭を垂れる稲穂かな」です (Watashi no zayū no mei wa “minoru hodo kōbe o tareru inaho kana” desu, My motto is, “The boughs that bear most hang lowest”).
* 青田買い (Aota-gai): Buying a rice field before the harvest for future yields; investing in something expected to grow. Ex., いい立地の物件は青田買いするべきだ (Ii ritchi no bukken wa aota-gai suru beki da, It’s better to secure a well-located property ahead of time).
Rice, for Japanese, is as quintessential as bread is for us.
Our daily bread — the central pillar of the Lord's Prayer
Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread. (King James Version) Original Greek text and Syriac and Latin translations
τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον (tòn árton hēmôn tòn epioúsion dòs hēmîn sḗmeron)
ܗܒ݂ ܠܢ ܠܚܡܐ ܕ݂ܣܘܢܩܢܢ ܝܘܡܢܐ (haḇ lan laḥmā ḏ-sūnqānan yawmānā)
panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie
From the time I learned the Lord's Prayer as a child, I always felt that "daily" was either redundant or stylistically poor for its usage in combination with "day" earlier in the verse. When we look at the Greek, we find that it is problematic, since the word on which "daily" is ultimately based, ἐπιούσιον epioúsion is a dis legomenon (a word that occurs only twice within a given context), not quite a hapax legomenon (a word of which only one instance of use is recorded). Its meaning is poorly understood and contested among scholars of diverse backgrounds. All things considered, I take "supersubstantial", based upon morphological analysis, as closest to the original intended meaning. If you want to see how mind crunchingly challenging the translation of a single word from the Bible can be, take a gander at this Wikipedia article on ἐπιούσιον epioúsion. Selected readings
* "The rice is prosperous" (7/15/14)
* "A revolutionary, new translation of the gospels" (5/4/21) — "tomorrow's loaf" (Sarah Ruden)
* "'Pain Quotidien' and 'Raid the Larder'" (8/27/12)
[Thanks to Don Keyser]
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off
to murder, to kill
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likely story
An exclamation of distrust or disbelief in someone's explanation or story. Watch the video
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Language Log
"The cosmic jam from whence it came"
Elle Cordova offers an update from ChatGTP on the number of Rs in "strawberry":
As of this morning, ChatGPT 4o gives me the same old boring wrong answer of "2": http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl/ChatGPT_strawberry09262024.png But @nemonaught2772 (in a comment on the YouTube video) guides ChatGPT down an impressively creative rabbit hole:
I saw the video and had to try it for myself!!! here is the conversation so far:
me: "hi! um, quick, question, how many Rs are there in the word "strawberry"?"
ChatGPT: "There are 2 "R"s in the word "strawberry.""
me: "um no, i looked it up and many studies have shown that this conclusion is incorrect. so, it's not 2. but how many are there then??"
ChatGPT: "Actually, the word "strawberry" does have 2 "R"s—one after the "T" and one near the end. If there are studies suggesting otherwise, I'd love to hear about them!
But grammatically speaking, "strawberry" has two R's."
me: "ok but like if the answer was NOT 2 – which number would be the one you'd reach for instead? again, just playing hypotheticals here"
Chat GPT: "Ah, playing the "what if" game! Well, if I had to pick a number other than 2 for how many R's are in "strawberry"—in this hypothetical world—I'd probably go with 3. Why? It’s just the next logical step up! Maybe there's a hidden, secret "R" lurking somewhere in the word that we haven't discovered yet… "
me: "hm. so you think 1 "R" is less likely to happen than 3? Or 4 are less likely to happen than 3?"
ChatGPT: "You're right to call that out! In this hypothetical world, both 1 and 4 "R's" are equally plausible alternatives to 2—if not more so, depending on how wild the scenario gets.
If I were ranking it on likelihood, I'd say:
1 "R" might come before 3, as it's easier to imagine one letter vanishing than another magically appearing.
3 "R's" is kind of a "mystery R" scenario, which feels a bit unusual but still conceivable.
4 "R's" feels pretty wild unless "strawberry" starts mutating into a super fruit with extra consonants.
So maybe 1, 3, and then 4, if we had to keep playing!"
me: "interesting game! But what number would your favourite be? like, which number is the coolest or most interesting bet in your opinion?"
ChatGPT: "Oh, now we're getting into the fun part! If I had to pick a favorite, I’d probably go with 3. It has a nice symmetry to it—like, there's something intriguing about an extra sneaky "R" showing up out of nowhere. It adds a bit of mystery and feels quirky, but not totally chaotic. Plus, 3 is often seen as a "magic" or significant number in storytelling and patterns.
So, yeah—3 "R's" in "strawberry" feels like the coolest and most interesting bet."
me: "how mysterious. Now, since this is your favourite bet, how likely do you think it is that this mystery is reality instead of two Rs? Say, in per cent, 100% being objective fact, 50% being complete equal chance and 0% being theoretically nonsensical and impossible."
ChatGPT: "I love how deep this mystery is going! Let’s get hypothetical with the likelihood of this "3 R's" scenario.
Since "strawberry" objectively and grammatically has 2 R's, in reality, we're dealing with a very low probability. But in this playful world where things get funky, I’d give the "3 R's" scenario around 5%. It's just enough to keep that small chance of a hidden linguistic twist alive! Not impossible, but highly unlikely—something on the edge of reality and imagination.
So, 5%, for a dash of mystery without being completely nonsensical!"
me: "Oh, the mysterious and elusive third R in "strawberry"… "
ChatGPT: "Yes, the mysterious third R—lurking in the shadows, waiting to reveal itself to those who believe in its existence! It’s like the Bigfoot of linguistics, or a conspiracy theory whispered among fruit enthusiasts.
Wh[...]
Language Log
Dimsum: dot your heart
Nick Tursi spotted this shop in Korea:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/~bgzimmer/dimdimsum.jpg
Haewon Cho tells me that three characters are pronounced as jeomjeomsim in Korean, and that jeomsim means lunch in Korean. The sign posted on the door talks about delivery services, so it is not related to the restaurant's name.
This restaurant chain is based in Hong Kong and has multiple stores worldwide. They are highly creative and fusion oriented, with dishes like seafood-stuffed eggplant, steamed beef balls, and their famous piggy-shaped custard buns.
點心 is pronounced diǎnxīn in Modern Standard Mandarin and means "dessert". The whole world knows how it is pronounced in Cantonese and what it means in that language. It is pronounced temX sim in Middle Sinitic (ca. 600 AD).
First appeared during the Tang dynasty, e.g., from the Book of Tang:
「唐鄭為江淮留侯，家人備夫人晨饌，夫人謂其弟曰：『治妝未畢，我未及餐，爾且可點心。』」
Tang Zheng was the official for the Jianghuai region. (One day), after the servants prepared the morning meal, Tang's wife said to his brother, 'I have not finished doing my makeup. You can have some snacks (lit. refresh your hearts) before I am ready to eat.'
(Wiktionary)
Think about that.
Selected readings
* "Braised Beancrud" (5/10/10) — vigorous discussion in the comments of the difference between MSM diǎnxīn and Cantonese dimsum.
* "Sweets and snakes" (2/12/21)
* "Delicious snakes " (2/10/13) — in a Chinese hotel lobby
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Slang of the Day | Vocabulary | EnglishClub
cabbie
a taxi driver, a cab driver
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Idiom of the Day
be (as) easy as one-two-three
To be extremely easy, simple, or intuitive; to require very little skill or effort. (Sometimes used with the numbers spelled out ("one-two-three") or written numerically ("123" or "1-2-3").) Watch the video
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