Try looking up lamei (a hot babe) in your Chinese dictionary. I bet it’s not there. What about tongzhi? OK, you found it? I bet all it says is “comrade,” which is very different from the more common definition, a homosexual. The list goes on and on. I often come across a new word in the newspaper and try looking it up in my Chinese dictionary only to be disappointed by its absence. Is there a dictionary out there that contains these contemporary terms? If not, let’s start our own list here. Let me just get the ball rolling.
ba1gua4: gossip
gao1kong1tan2tiao4: bungee jumping
mai3chun1: literally “to buy spring,” which means to hire a prostitute
gou2zai3dui4: paparazzi
ren2yao1: transvestite
hui2kou4: kickbacks
Both terms are in DeFrancis’s new ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive, which is a really excellent dictionary. (except la4mei4 is found as la4mei4zi ‘vixen, virago’; for tongzhi it does give ’ homosexual’ as the second def. ) Also, the publisher is very good about adding new words and corrections when users write to them (unlike some publishers, e.g. Far East :raspberry: ).
Sichuan is famous for its lameizi. That doesn’t mean hot-looking girls with scanty clothing; it means what Dragonbones said - a fiesty girl, a vixen or virago.
On the rest of your list, the record is hit and miss:
ba1gua4: gossip:
ABCCEC: only has orig. meaning
gao1kong1tan2tiao4: bungee jumping
ABCCEC: nope
mai3chun1: literally “to buy spring,” which means to hire a prostitute
ABCCEC: has ‘buy wine’ only; but under mai4chun1 it has ‘engage in prostitution’
gou2zai3dui4: paparazzi
ABCCEC: nope
ren2yao1: transvestite
ABCCEC: 1) man disguised as a woman or vice-versa who engages in evil activities; 2)hermaphrodite (clearly this needs to be improved by adding 1b) transvestite and 3)transsexual)
hui2kou4: kickbacks
ABCCEC: sales commission; kickback
BTW, I’m in the middle of composing another letter to DeFrancis on additions and corrections, and will add the missing ones to it. I hope others will do the same, so that future editions will be more complete. It really takes participation on the part of all the user community to create a great reference work (like the OED). :help:
Here’s a few more for your letter to the publisher, if they’re not already in the ABC Comprehensive.
jian3su4dian4: speed bump (saw this for the first time just yesterday in the China Times), which brings to mind:
ren2kong3: manhole
fan3chuan4: cross-dressing
diao4gui3: paradoxical
Hold off on that letter. Maybe more will be added to this thread and you can include them in your letter.
zhuai3 (pls do add tones for clarity) - I assume you mean egotistical and arrogant; ABCC gives “lard one’s speech with literary phrases to display erudition”.
jian3su4dian4: speed bump - nope
ren2kong3: manhole -yup
fan3chuan4: cross-dressing - no, it gives "wear (clothes) inside-out
Does the publisher give any kind of rewards to those who send in new definitions? If I could get a coupon or a special price on a future edition of the dictionary then I would be motivated to send in some new words.
No, there’s no reward. Just the satisfaction of being part of the community who helped create a valuable reference tool. High quality reference works like this and the OED aren’t money makers. But when a future, updated edition comes out, greatly improved by the efforts of you and countless others, you can sell your old copy used, get the new edition, and have a great new tool that includes all the words you added. It’s well worth a quick email to the publisher!
I’d like to give a strong second to Dragonbones’s call to help with the ABC dictionary project. I’m also participating.
The comprehensive version of the dictionary has more than 1,400 pages and nearly 200,000 entries, all organized alphabetically by Hanyu Pinyin. It is indeed a thing of beauty.
So people can have a better idea what the dictionary looks like, here are some entries from a page taken at random:
For more information, see the Web page in my sig below.
sao3 (to sweep), as in to crack down on crime (sao3hei1) or crack down on prostitution (sao3huang2).
tian1ji4xian4: skyline.
luo2sheng1men2: mystery, enigma.
wu1long2: a ridiculous outcome, and its verb form: bai3wu1long2: to bring about a ridiculous outcome.
Those who are helping out with updating the dictionary, what are some of the terms you have?
[quote=“Incubus”]Here’s a few more not found in my dictionary:
sao3 (to sweep), as in to crack down on crime (sao3hei1) or crack down on prostitution (sao3huang2).
tian1ji4xian4: skyline.
luo2sheng1men2: mystery, enigma.
wu1long2: a ridiculous outcome, and its verb form: bai3wu1long2: to bring about a ridiculous outcome.
Those who are helping out with updating the dictionary, what are some of the terms you have?[/quote]
OK, here goes:
sao3hei1: to crack down on crime
sao3huang2: to crack down on pornography
tian1ji4xian4: horizon
luo2shang1men2- not found
wu1long2: not found
bai3wu1long2: not found
(I hereby retire)
Ok, I hope that helps you decide whether to get the ABCC, which I do strongly recommend. It is also a very high quality printing and binding, so the price is quite reasonable. Once you get it, please do jot down terms you can’t find (e.g., on post-it’s inside the rear cover), and when you get enough, type them up in an email to the publisher.
Sorry, I incorrectly listed the ABCC entry as "wear (clothes) inside-out. Actually, that’s its definition of 返穿 fan3chuan1. For fan3chuan4 反串 it gives “<thea.> temporarily play a part other than one’s customary role”, but it lacks the modern colloquial “cross-dressing”
Cool. And they called me gui1mao2, but that’s not in the ABC. I gather it means something like ‘picky to a fault’ or ‘a perfectionist, and therefore a real pain in the ass’ . Does anyone have a more elegant translation for me to submit to the ABC? Same goes for zhuai3 - anything concise but accurate?
On your computer. 
. Does anyone have a more elegant translation for me to submit to the ABC? Same goes for zhuai3 - anything concise but accurate?