Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Yojijukugo (四字熟語);

Feb. 26th is the anniversary of my mother's death. I remember she felt proud of and happy for me when I passed a certain English proficiency test and started teaching at home. Especially she had seen me so down after giving up the fertility treatment. 
I thought I should post some topic in memory of her. 
I seem to run out of topic;  but I could find one I haven't posted.


*Yojijukugo (四字熟語)*
The idiomatic phrases are composed of 4 Chinese Characters; and in the sense,  they have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of the component words.  

       I'll just introduce some examples here;
The ones which may be easy for English speaking people;
一石二鳥 (one/stone/two/bird) [isseki'nichou] 
                 killing two birds with one stone 

試行錯誤(try/conduct/mingle/error)          [shikousakugo]  
             trial and error

The ones I like;
 十人十色 (ten/people/ten/color) [juunintoiro] 
              So many people, so many minds; everyone has his own ideas and tastes;

 無理難題 (impossible/challenge) [murinandai] 
                unreasonable [impossible] demand; asking the impossible; tall order 
          
 馬耳東風 (horse/ear/east/wind) [bajitoufuu]
             turning a deaf ear (to); not paying attention to someone's opinions or criticism; 

                in one ear and out the other; praying to deaf ears 


When my husband asks me 無理難題, I am like 馬耳東風  p;)

順風満帆 (order/wind/fully/sail) [junpuumanpan] 
                smooth sailing with all sails set; 

               everything going smoothly [like a boat carried by favorable winds] 

 I DO hope everyone's life is & will be 順風満帆

ps;  You will know more Yojijukugo from this page and this is Wikipedia page
      And may surprise to see there are so many of them, not that we use many of them or often.

1 comment:

Barbara F. said...

may she rest in peace, together with your father and brother, watching over you. Hugs to you! xo