It’s a Riot: Part 2
Friday, June 13th, 2008
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How odd it is that “She’s a riot!” means someone’s funny. English speakers even say that something’s “riotously funny.” I’ve never been to a riot, but from the photos I’ve seen, nothing amusing happens at such events.
Riot After an Election
Photo Credit: Daniel Meyer
In Japanese, too, there seems to be a fine line between riots and merrymaking. Take this word, for instance:
騒乱 (sōran: riot, disturbance) clamor + disorder
Last week we saw how 騒 (SŌ, sawa(gu): clamor, noise, disturbance; to make a fuss) plays a part in 大騒ぎ (ōsawagi), which means “shocking events.” Now we see that in 騒乱, the same kanji helps to cause a riot.
If you flip 騒乱 and add a “foolish spirit” to it, your riot turns into a party:
乱痴気騒ぎ (ranchiki sawagi: boisterous merrymaking)
disorder + foolish + spirit + clamor
And if you’d like to “make merry” in a different way, here’s another option:
底抜け騒ぎ (sokonuke sawagi: boisterous merrymaking)
bottom + to remove + clamor
Ah, 底抜け (sokonuke) breaks down as bottom + to remove and means “bottomless”! And no, even though there’s boisterous merrymaking at hand, we’re not talking about bottomless pants (a la David Lee Roth).
Further Notes on Bottomlessness …
Boisterous merrymaking is one thing, but what about when the fun becomes disorderly? Then you have this situation:
悪騒ぎ (warusawagi: disorderly merrymaking; making a fuss without considering the annoyance it causes others) bad + clamor
Disorderly merrymaking? Not allowed! First, you need to clean off your desk and get your files in order, aligning your stapler just so and disentangling your paper clips. Only then is it OK to have fun!
If you want to throw a party in Japan, you’ll most likely put rice on the menu. And if you don’t? You might face these consequences:
米騒動 (kome sōdō: rice riot) rice + riot (last 2 chars.)
Certain parts of the world have race riots. But the Japanese have rice riots.
If you take the rice out of the rice riot, you find this:
騒動 (sōdō: riot, rebellion) clamor + to fall into disorder
I didn’t realize 動 (DŌ, ugo(ku)), which usually means “to move,” could also mean “to fall into disorder.”
Working from this basis, you can embellish on your riots a little bit:
一騒動 (hitosōdō: disturbance, kerfuffle)
one + riot (last 2 chars.)
A kerfuffle! I can just hear an older man with a tweedy hat, walking stick, and a proper British accent as he asks, “I say, what in blazes is the meaning of this dreadful kerfuffle?”
The answer?
“Rice, of course. It started when an order of paella never showed up. Then a serving of bad biryani inflamed feelings further. The meal ended in a huge kerfuffle.”
And to think—you can produce such a kerfuffle merely by adding the kanji for “one”: 一. What would happen if you added “two”: 二? A double kerfuffle?
Time for your Verbal Logic Quiz. Enjoy. And may you have a kerfuffle-free day!
Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity |
June 14th, 2008 at 3:56 am
Hi, everyone. I need your help!
In my forthcoming book, Crazy for Kanji, I have a very small section on electronic kanji-study aids. But I wrote that section 2 years ago. Publication has been delayed and delayed, and now, before the book finally comes out (cross your fingers!), I’ve been asked to update that section. I’m not familiar with the world of electronic kanji-study tools, and I thought maybe you could give some tips.
In my earlier draft, I mentioned the following tools:
1. Rainboo Software’s “Yokozuna!”
You draw kanji via a cursor that functions as a pen, and the program determines whether they’re acceptable or unacceptable. Animated displays of stroke order in Yokozuna! should help you rectify problems. Via flash cards and reading quizzes, this program also tests your ability to determine the yomi of various characters.
2. Nintendo’s “Brain Training for Adults” (もっと脳を鍛える大人のDS Training, Motto Nō o Kitaeru Otona no DS Training)
This aims to help you stave off dementia through daily brain exercises. Toward this end, the program offers kanji-drawing quizzes that you take on a touch screen.
3. Nintendo’s “Touch Dic” (yes, that’s really the name!)
This is an electronic dictionary turned into a game. A stylus allows you to draw kanji onto a Pict-o-chat screen and for others to guess the meaning. Sega has produced another dictionary-cum-game.
4. Jukugon
Falling blocks display kanji, and you need to line up blocks to form viable compounds.
I also did the briefest possible section about online kanji evaluation tools. I mentioned just two resources:
1. www.kantango.com
The electronic flash cards on that site don’t let you cheat! That is, you can’t tell yourself that you know certain kanji when your score indicates otherwise.
2. Mary Sisk Noguchi’s Kanji Clinic website (www.kanjiclinic.com)
If you go there and hit “Links,” you’ll see several other possibilities for online self-evaluation.
Any ideas for more resources in either category? If I end up using your suggestion, I’ll add your name to the Acknowledgments section of the book, for whatever that’s worth!
Hope to hear from you within the next week or so. Thanks a million!
June 15th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Right now the only programs I use to study kanji are Wakan to get the kanji info and Mnemosyne to memorize it. In the mnemosyne reviews I’m supposed to draw the kanji from questions like “ひかり - light”. Using pen and paper of course :). But mnemosyne isn’t a kanji-specific software though.
Anyway, I never knew about 米騒動 before. Thanks for bringing that culturally-significant word up :).
June 15th, 2008 at 3:31 am
And don’t forget the band Quiet Riot. These guys were the ultimate in 70/80’s big-hair glamour heavy metal bands. Wonder if there is a kanji for quiet riot. Having been in riots after a loss of cricket match, there is nothing quiet about them. Fun blog and great photos in the quiz. Though 1 and 2 got me again.
June 15th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Thanks for the comments! I didn’t know about Wakan or Mnemosyne, so I’ll check those out.
Funny–the name “Quiet Riot” did flit thru my head a few times as I wrote this blog! I toyed with the idea of naming it “An Unquiet Riot.”
Btw, I happened upon a kanji that I already knew and that contains interspecies mating, tho. I never realized it before: 独 (DOKU, hito(ri): single, alone). This kanji combines the radical for beast with 虫, which means “insect.” Those insects really get around, mating with anything they can find!
July 10th, 2008 at 3:17 am
An interesting cultural difference is introduced in this blog: while English speakers might indicate limitlessness by saying, “The sky is the limit”, Japanese speakers will say, “The bottom is the limit!”
That is true, but it came to me that there is an expression similar to the sky being the limit in Japanese as well. That is 青空天井, which literally translates as “a blue-sky ceiling” and actually means “no limit.” The blue sky above is the upper bound.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:42 am
That’s really interesting that a reference to a ceiling would actually mean “no limit”! Thanks for sharing that!