Funny Chinese expressions

[Bernard Cleary]

Just learned how to say paparazzi in Chinese today: 狗仔隊 (gou3 zai3 dui4). Etymology: Wikipedia says the Chinese expression came about as follows: 此词 (paparazzi) 传入香港后，香港人改称Paparazzi为Puppy（小狗），一来是读音相近，二来此类记者的追踪行为也和狗相似。随后该词逐渐演化成了“狗仔队”，隨後再傳至臺灣等其他中文地區，之後成為華人地區常見的用語。

[José Balido]

Great idea for a discussion forum, 老柯! Chinese is full of very amusing expressions such as this.

So... paparazzi = a pack of puppies??? Most celebrities, I suspect, would see them more as a pack of snarling mastiffs...!

[Bernard Cleary]

Yes, I'm sure you're right. Still, I like the puppy imagery. The paparazzi do sort of stumble over one another, sniffing and following the pack, the way I imagine a large group of puppies left to their own devices would!

Jose Balido said:

Great idea for a discussion forum, 老柯! Chinese is full of very amusing expressions such as this.

So... paparazzi = a pack of puppies??? Most celebrities, I suspect, would see them more as a pack of snarling mastiffs...!

[Bernard Cleary]

The Chinese have long formed the concept of "fan" (as in movie fans, pop music fans) by appending the character 迷　(which interestingly has the alternate meanings of "become lost", "be obsessed with," or "deluded") to the genre or activity one enjoys/follows. For example, "I'm a fan of Teresa Teng" would be 我是鄧麗君的歌迷 (literally, I am a song fan of Teresa Teng); "I am a fan of Jackie Chan" would be 我是成龍的影迷 (I am a movie fan of Jackie Chan). However, at some point in the last ten to twenty years, I'm not sure when, I started noticing more and more people using the word "紛絲" (traditionally a kind of vermicelli made from bean starch) to mean "fan(s)". Obviously, it is an approximation of the English word "fans." This is definitely relatively new. And I think it's pretty funny. :)

[José Balido]

Got it. So I'm a Jackie Chan bean-starch noodle. I'll keep that in mind!

Bernard Cleary said:

The Chinese have long formed the concept of "fan" (as in movie fans, pop music fans) by appending the character 迷　(which interestingly has the alternate meanings of "become lost", "be obsessed with," or "deluded") to the genre or activity one enjoys/follows. For example, "I'm a fan of Teresa Teng" would be 我是鄧麗君的歌迷 (literally, I am a song fan of Teresa Teng); "I am a fan of Jackie Chan" would be 我是成龍的影迷 (I am a movie fan of Jackie Chan). However, at some point in the last ten to twenty years, I'm not sure when, I started noticing more and more people using the word "紛絲" (traditionally a kind of vermicelli made from bean starch) to mean "fan(s)". Obviously, it is an approximation of the English word "fans." This is definitely relatively new. And I think it's pretty funny. :)