crystal slice = lens
[quote=“sjcma”]
fire legs
pull stomach
add take big[/quote]
Good ones.
ewe! 
:no-no:
sjcma- we haven’t even finished your first list!!! You are a slave driver!!! rainbow electricity: not aurora borealis…hmmmm cai3 hong2 means it must be different colors…there’s nuclear power- that he2dian4… geothermal power…nope…solar power…nope. maybe people power as in the rainbow coaltion??? ke3ai4 lovable or cute. nei4ren2- wife? de2 xian1 sheng1 and i argued about it with cctang? Mr. right? the moral man? i wonder if cctang had his child yet…
[quote=“Dragonbones”]For the beginning to intermediates only (too easy for you advanced folk, methinks):
insurance cover [/quote]
I don’t think that’s accurate. I know what you’re trying to say, but I would describe it as protect danger glove. Definitely not “cover”. Slip, glove, or liner are better words to describe it.
no tail bear= koala.
unfair advantage, as i’m an aussie.
Yeah, but we’re translating word for word here, and not accurately describing things. And in terms of literal word-by-word translations, tao4 is generally case, cover or slipcover, not ‘glove’, which is specifically shou3tao4 rather than just tao4. 
But we can call it an ‘insurance sheath’ if you prefer. We had a saying back in the medieval society – a good squire keeps his sword sheathed. 
v, good job on nei4ren2 and ke3ai4. Since you’ve instituted a 24 hour rule, I must now reveal the answers:
- can love = ke3ai4 可愛 = cute
- essence of the spirit = jing1shen2 精神 = energy, vitality
- rainbow electricity = cai3dian4 彩電 = television (this was a tricky one)
- inside person = nei4ren2 內人 = wife
- Mr. De = De2 xian1sheng1 德先生 = democracy
On to the next list as well as Dragonbone’s list…looks like many have already figured out some of them.
Should that be ‘color’ TV? I’ve never heard this one.
Is that a mainland term? Or do Taiwanese use it too?
[quote]- Mr. De = De2 xian1sheng1 德先生 = democracy
[/quote]
Same question; just for clarification, and so that we learn more while we play.
Should that be ‘color’ TV? I’ve never heard this one. [/quote]
I thought “colour” was redundant these days, but yes, it means colour television. This is a mainland term.
Is that a mainland term? Or do Taiwanese use it too? [/quote]
No one really uses this term anymore. I think it slowly went away as China was transitioning into a republic. It’s not uncommon to see it in writing though depending on the author’s personal bent.
Same question; just for clarification, and so that we learn more while we play. :p[/quote]
The New Culture Movement, considered the precursor to the May 4th Movement, sought to bring western concepts into China. Chief amongst them were democracy and science. Others were vernacular writing and Marxism. In 1915, Chen Duxiu/陳獨秀 published La Jeunesse/新青年 where democracy and science were given the names 德先生 (De2 xian1sheng1) and 賽先生 (Sai4 xian1sheng1) respectively. I think it’s obviously that the surnames of these two Misters are simply Mandarin transliterations of the first syllable of the equivalent English word.
Sure these terms are no longer popularly used, having been replaced by 民主 min2zhu3 and 科學 ke1xue2 but they have not fallen entirely out of favour (try googling them). I learned these terms myself last year when I was watching a documentary on Chinese democratic history and reform. It took me a while to figure out what they were talking about because the documentary was in Cantonese and the Cantonese pronunciation bears no resemblance to the original English.
Yeah, but we’re translating word for word here, and not accurately describing things. And in terms of literal word-by-word translations, tao4 is generally case, cover or slipcover, not ‘glove’, which is specifically shou3tao4 rather than just tao4. But we can call it an ‘insurance sheath’ if you prefer. We had a saying back in the medieval society – a good squire keeps his sword sheathed. [/quote]
Interesting you brought that up - uagina, the Latin root of vagina, means sheath, as does scheide, which is German for c*nt.
sjcma, thanks for the challenge. now that i know you may put up uncommon words, i’ll expand my thinking. fire legs/huo2tui3: ham (why 'fire legs?), pull stomach/la1du4:diarrhea, add take big/jia1na2da4:canada
ok- this game is motivating me to read the paper looking for interesting words. today i learned ‘know situation person’. this is a person who gives info to reporters- but my sense is that they are not like a spokesperson because they don’t want to be identified- you can correct me if i’m wrong, since i couldn’t find this word in the dictionary.
Is that a mainland term? Or do Taiwanese use it too? [/quote]
No one really uses this term anymore. I think it slowly went away as China was transitioning into a republic. It’s not uncommon to see it in writing though depending on the author’s personal bent.
[/quote]
Precisely, I think it should mean ‘my’ wife. You don’t say ‘your wife’ as 你內人.
And it’s still common in writing or daily conversation to show some courtesy. But the more common one should be 內子. And the opposite term is 外子. If you can read Chinese newspaper’s supplement (副刊) the family page. You’ll see lots of people use these two terms instead of 我太太、我先生
Fire leg, that’s exactly what its name came from.
Here is the chinese ham picture. The story of its name can trace back to Sung dynasty. A general’s home town is famous of making ham. Once he came back to his home town, he thought he could treat his soldiers that and devote to the emperor. The emperor was very happy and liked the ham very much. He saw the colour of the slice of ham like fire, so he named this food ‘fire leg’ 
Bravo v, how about the others? And those proposed by DB?
the literal English translations of Chinese words has fascinated me, too.
sugar pee disease
dragon roll wind
cat head eagle -mao1tou2ying1 owl
sugar pee disease- tang2niao4bing4 diabetes
dragon roll wind -long2zhuan3feng1 tornado
king 8 egg -wang2ba1dan4 bastard
silly melon sa1gua1 silly goose
bread car ? mian4 che1? noodle vendor cart?
bao2xian3tao4 condom
thanks DoD for the information. do you also know the origin of wang2ba1 dan4? are there any books in english that give the origin stories of chinese words?
and again my contribution to the game: know situation person (they leak news to reporters)
[quote=“v”]dragon roll wind -long2zhuan3feng1 tornado
silly melon sa1gua1 silly goose
bread car ? mian4 che1? noodle vendor cart?[/quote]
The correct pinyin would be long2juan3feng1 and sha3gua1. Who suggested bread car? It believe it’s main4bao1che1, a little van that’s shaped like a loaf of bread.
Wang2ba1 is slang for turtle and being called a turtle is an insult. Being called an egg of a turtle is an even bigger insult.
zhi1qing2ren2 = insider, someone who knows what’s going on, hey, kinda like a person who knows the situation. 
Since no one even made an attempt at my other challenges, I’ll post the answers here:
general leader = zong3tong3 總統 = president (of a nation)
stale water flat = chen2 shui3 bian3 陳水扁 = Ah Bian (see? if you got the first one, it would’ve been a hint to this one)
accomplished man = gong1 fu1 功夫 = Kung Fu (while Ah Bian may not be an accomplished man, he may very well know Kung Fu)
OK, here’s a few more:
- moist skin grease
- black dragon
- plan count machinery
- preserve his life
- essence of offspring
- platform gulf
My current favourite: sweet sweet circle