kaigou: this is what I do, darling (iguana greeting)
[personal profile] kaigou
If you see this name showing up on your list, eh, it's just me.

ETA: ahem, the good (and bad, if you're a student) of Mandarin is the tonal element, and if you don't know the tones (and don't have the characters) then pinyin could mean any of a huge number of things. In this case, gou is third tone: 狗 (dog). Although if I said first tone instead, it could mean "bamboo frame for drying clothes" -- 篝. But third tone could just as well be "basket for trapping fish" -- 笱.

Kai is third tone. So depending on mood, it could be 凯 (triumphant), 剀 (careful), 慨 (generous), 恺 (joyful), or the one I actually intended, which is 锴 (iron, of the kind used in armor & swords). Although if I said it's fourth tone, it'd be 忾, which means angry.

It's not Japanese, however, as I'm not a student of that language, though it is nice to hear that it has a positive meaning in that language -- "change of era" is apt. My original idea, actually, also had a meaning in Japanese, of "dissolution" (as in debt). But then I decided that fourth-tone shou --狩 (imperial hunting dog) -- wasn't common enough in usage compared to gou, and although in third tone it could be 守 (guarding), I didn't want it confused with 兽 (wild beast), even if the pun of 寿 (life, longevity) would've been nice. Besides, I don't like the sound of 'sh' nearly as much as the middle-ground tone of a hard 'g', on the ears.

Date: 29 Oct 2007 06:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kaigou.livejournal.com
Except that I don't speak/study Japanese! ...but if I'm seriously off in the Mandarin, you'll have to tell me. (I hope I'm not; I didn't exactly pick a complex combination... I hope.)

Oh, btw, there was a post I made over on the (now-going-away) fan-account, prompted in part by some of your comments, plus my own observations/complaints -- http://solitude1056.livejournal.com/104343.html ... in case you're interested. ;-)

Date: 30 Oct 2007 05:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] haya5h1.livejournal.com
heh, my knowledge of Mandarin is exactly zero (other than the kanji that the Japanese stole appropriated) so I wouldn't know if the combo was snickery in Chinese. In Japanese "iron dog" would be 鉄の犬 - tetsu no inu (or if you wanted to get fancy, 黒金の犬 - kurogane no inu).

...oh, and "kai" is "chicken" in Cantonese so it could also be "chicken dog"...XD

and would you believe that I didn't actually know of the existence of that other journal till now?XD

whois

kaigou: this is what I do, darling (Default)
锴 angry fishtrap 狗

to remember

"When you make the finding yourself— even if you're the last person on Earth to see the light— you'll never forget it." —Carl Sagan

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