A Few Stitches Short

larger viewReader Theresa emailed in this cross-stitching template and wants to know if all the Chinese characters were written correctly. This template titled “Bonsai and Buddha” was designed by Nicholas Charles and manufactured by a company based in Reading, PA, USA called Dimensions.寧 is missing a few dots in the 心 partial.安 is missing a horizontal...

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Language Misuse Go Round and Round

Here at Hanzi Smatter, my associates and I have spent endless hours chuckling over miswritten Chinese character tattoos. We also know that on the other side of the globe, there are probably some Asian schmucks that have English gibberish (or Engrish) tattooed on them as well. Even though we believed our prediction would be true, there has never been...

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Carisa Anderson's Upside Down "Devotion"

http://www.ushra.com/photoGallery/050320wedding/wedding134.jpg/http://www.ushra.com/photoGallery/050320wedding/wedding136.jpg/Reader Andy emails me several photos of Dennis Anderson and his new bride Carisa at their wedding in Las Vegas earlier this year. For those who do not know who Dennis Anderson is, he is the driver of monster truck, the "Grave...

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Dummies for Kanji

Reader Dan has pointed me to today's "Joe and Monkey" by Zach Miller.The two-character phrase featured in the comic 白癡 means "idiot".Just a side note, even though both Japanese and Chinese use same if not similar characters, when they are used as Chinese, the characters are "Hanzi", and as Japanese, they are referred as "Kanj...

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It Says "Princess" in Japanese

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=410Reader Heather has send me a link to today's Questionable Content webcomic by Jeph Jacques. One of the characters, Raven, decides to get a Japanese tattoo, and of course end up with a tongue lashing from others.公主 = princ...

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"Tranquility" Lost

I saw this "Wall Hanging Asian Character" for sale at a local Bed Bath and Beyond store. The character 著 has an English caption stating it means "tranquility". The truth is far from "tranquil". Depends on how 著 is used as in a phrase or sentence, it has many meanings including "catch; receive; suffer", "to make known; to show; to prove; to write;...

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Hotdogs Tattoo in Big Brother Australia

http://www.bigbrother.3mobile.com.au/news/article_302.aspReader Amy points me to an article posted on Big Brother Australia's website about one of their housemates' tattoo:Hotdogs took some inspiration from the East when it came time to choose his tattoos. On his right arm is a series of Chinese characters, during his first day in the house Dean and...

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Tricky Tiger Saloon

Reader Aylwin emails from Canada:"I spotted this shirt on display last weekend at The Bay (a Canadian department store chain) at Bloor & Yonge in Toronto..."The character 救 on the upper left corner means "rescue" or "save". According to my Hong Kong native friend Angela, the four characters 有型靚仔 in the Chinese seal (or Japanese hanko) is a Cantonese...

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Gamer Shirt

http://www.comboclothing.com/From reader Sarah:"Hi. Been watching hanzismatter.com for a while now, and as a Japanese education major must admit that I have giggled uncontrollably on more than one account.Anyway, just thought I'd pass on this beauty my boyfriend sent my way. The actual website has 先週 listed as meaning "gamer". Even my ex-roommate,...

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Talk Nerdy To Me

From Reader Malinda:"Tian, long time reader first time emailer. I bought this shirt on Jinx.com - now I'm nervous... Does it really say 'Talk Nerdy to me?'" Other than 言 is missing a dot on top (thanks to anon.), I forwarded her question to my associates and here is what they had to say about the shirt.Aaron replied with:"Well, it's not WRONG, as in...

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Dogging the Past

In Spring of 2003, Junko Hamaguchi wrote an article titled "Lost in Translation - Here’s what those cool-looking Japanese tattoos really say" for Echo Magazine, a student magazine for Columbia College Chicago. The same article was then republished in Chicago Tribune.One of the photos was this one:The photo's caption says:The tattoo belongs to Marcus...

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