Call to Order: Part 1
Friday, July 18th, 2008
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In the last blog, we saw this word:
身長順 (shinchōjun: in order of height) body + length + order
I love all the sharp geometry in these kanji—the way a few diagonals offset the neat horizontals and verticals. But aside from that, here’s what jumped out at me when I found this word in the dictionary:
順 (JUN: sequence, compliance)
I’d never seen this kanji before. And I was intrigued that river (川) + head (頁) could mean “order.” There’s order at the head of the river?
If you want to put things in order, then 順 is your kanji. This character isn’t sexy or mysterious. Rather, it’s as practical and sensible as a pair of oxford shoes. But if you’re the sort of person who gets excited at the Container Store (as I am, I must admit!) or whose idea of a good vacation is to reorganize closets and drawers (me again), then you’re going to love this kanji.
OK, I heard some of you walk out and slam the door behind you! But I don’t think I’m overselling when I say that 順 can help you make sense of things. Look over the following terms, and see if you aren’t thinking more clearly at the end:
筆順 (hitsujun: stroke order) brush + order
Another way to write “stroke order” is 書き順 (kakijun: to write + order). Now we can talk with native speakers about stroke order. That’s so important! I may be able to discuss a variety of subjects in Japanese, but when I want to talk to native speakers about radicals, components, stroke order, and such, I often don’t know the vocabulary. How frustrating that is! By the way, as long as we’re on the topic, the way to refer to actual kanji strokes is 画 (KAKU). Check out the sample sentence with 画.
Sample Sentence About Strokes …
大きい順 (ōkiijun: decreasing order, largest first) big + order
When it comes to books, I like them running big to small. I spend a whole lot more time looking at them (as an art object) than actually scanning the titles and needing to find one in a split second. So after I group them by subject, the next order of business is to create a downward slope.
小さい順 (chiisaijun: increasing order, smallest first)
small + order
The Order of Life
Photo Credit: Mario Penushliev.The tiny writing in the upper-left corner says “The order of life—memento mori,” by Mario Penushliev. This mori refers not to 森 (mori: forest) but rather to death. Wikipedia has a good explanation of this Latin phrase.
逆順 (gyakujun: in reverse order) reverse + orderWe’ve seen 逆 before.
ABC順 (ēbīshī jun: alphabetical order)
This is also called アルファベット順 (arufabetto jun).
五十音順 (gojūonjun: alphabetized according to the syllabary)
5 x 10 + sound + orderIf you’re wondering about the 50 (given that there are just 46 kana in the hiragana syllabary), one website says, “The number of basic Kana has fluctuated over the years between 50 and 46.” Alphabetizing in accordance with the syllabary is also known as あいうえお順 (aiueo jun).
Photo Credit: Yolise.
Another way of organizing: by color!
The next three ways of ordering things involve timing:
年代順 (nendaijun: chronological order)
age, era + age, era + orderThis brings to mind the way the John Cusack character in High Fidelity organizes his LPs autobiographically.
年齢順に (nenreijun ni: in order of age)
years, one’s age + age + order先着順 (senchakujun: by order of arrival, on a first-come-first-served basis) ahead of + to arrive + order
It makes sense for everyone to take turns and go in order. The next few terms will help make this happen.
順々 (junjun: in order, by turns) order + order
順番 (junban: order, one’s turn, order of things; sequential order) order + ranking
順繰り (junguri: in turn; order) order + to turn
順次 (junji: in order, successively, gradually) order + order
Ah, I didn’t realize that 次 (JI, tsugi), which often means “next,” could also mean “order, sequence, arrangement.” Makes sense, as a logical extension of “next.”
All of these seem close in meaning, and in fact they are! You’ll find that they’re largely interchangeable in the sample sentences at the next link.
Sample Sentences for Going in Order …
So how about it? Have your thoughts sorted themselves into working order? That is, are they in
順序 (junjo: order; sequence; procedure) order + order
Or is that too much to expect from a vocabulary list? Perhaps it was a tall order. Well, if so, I’d like to cheer you up, so a Verbal Logic Quiz is in order. I’ll order one up for you promptly. And … lo and behold, here it is, made to order! (Yikes, my brain is out of order! Call an orderly for me right away!)
Posted by Eve Kushner in Kanji Curiosity |
July 19th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Dear Kanji Eve,
“Call to Order: Part 1″ is topnotch. Thank you for such nice work! I’ve been around Nippon and Nippon-go for decades and have never given thought to “50-on-jun” as being backed up by just 46 kana.
I really liked your novel way of arranging your novels, and other books by “ookii-jun” and “iro-jun” and the like. How about “suki-jun” or “when-you-acquired-them-jun?”
This Kanjiphile is eagerly awaiting “Part 2.”
Thanks again
Laurence Wiig
(Please see my consumer review for Jim Heisig’s “Remembering the Kanji, Volume I” at amazon.com. I wrote it four years ago and it is still applicable today.)
July 19th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Great writing about 順! My favorite is of course 筆順 (I was like, “Hey this is a very useful word, something embodied into my daily life! Why didn’t I know it earlier?” when I first encountered it in the past)
I’m also very thankful for the link to Breen’s radical collection (didn’t know he had one) and also your discussion about radical terminologies.
I have my uncle’s book for preparing 2級3級漢字検定 and they also discuss radical names there. I’ve glossed over it in the past and your writing refreshed my memory again of the terms such as 遶.
July 20th, 2008 at 2:38 am
Hey, it’s great to get such positive and interesting comments, especially ones that engage with the content. Thanks! It would be hard to sequence these two comments in a suki-jun way, because I enjoyed both of them so much.
And thanks for the very clever “jun” additions to our collective vocab., Laurence! Also: a novel way of arranging novels: !!! Got a good laugh out of that one.
Glad you found your way to the deeply buried bit on radical terminology, Agro. I feel a bit regretful that something fairly important (at least to kanjiphiles) is tucked away in a corner that’s hard to find. I hope, in the future, that I remember to provide the Japanese name of radicals from time to time (along with a link back to the page on radical terminology). That’ll make the terms a bit more accessible in every sense, I think.
Finally, the reference to Nippon reminded me of something I read this week. In New Zealand (Auckland, I think), there’s a bridge that needed widening. Japanese engineers did the job, and now their addition is known as the “Nippon Clip-on”!
July 20th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Me again. One more thing. If you’re an Obama supporter (and I hope you are!), you might enjoy these hiragana-endowed products that a friend of mine made in support of Obama:
http://shop.cafepress.com/design/28364336
As the friend says, Gobama!