Semen Chai- Re: Cantonese use lovely or pretty for males-Re:
Bun Mui
> Re: Cantonese use lovely or pretty for males-Re: Pretty boy -is this
>
> From: Robert Lieblich <lieb...@erols.com>
> Reply to: [1]lieb...@erols.com
> Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 17:11:52 -0500
> Newsgroups:
> [2]alt.usage.english
> Followup to: [3]newsgroup(s)
> References:
> [4]<Pir22.46$p31...@typhoon.mbnet.mb.ca>
> [5]<72o22v$q...@eng-ser1.erg.cuhk.edu.hk>
>
>Project 2300 wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, 12 Nov 1998 02:00:15 GMT, Bun Mui <Bun...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
>> > Chinese people who speak Cantonese describe it that way.
>>
>> In Cantonese, "len" = beautiful/pretty. We do always say "len chai"
>> (beautiful boy) and "len lui" (beautiful girl). Both are perfectly okay
>> and very common.
There is a word meaning handsome in Chinese it is called "semen" or
handsome, handsome boy therefore means "semen chai".
Comments?
Bun Mui
>
>This suggests not that Cantonese speakers say "pretty boy," but rather
>that "beautiful" or "pretty" may not be the best translation for "len,"
>because in English neither "beautiful" or "pretty" is used in a neutral
>way to describe human males. If I were translating a Cantonese novel
>into English (now there's a far-out hypothetical) and encountered "len
>chai," I would not translate it "beautiful boy" or "pretty boy." I'd
>probably go with "good-looking boy" or do more of a rewrite.
>
>This lack of exact equivalency between word in different languages
>explains both why translation is an art and why mechanical translators
>yield such ludicrous results.
>
>Bob Lieblich
>Idiom Savant
Small Fish
"handsome man", they may rather use "yau ying"
SF
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