the return

After almost 3 months, I will be returning to Beijing on June 3 (arriving on June 4).

Phileros: An exercise in Greek words for love

It's common knowledge that language flexes with the times. New meanings are often added to existing words, but occasionally, completely new words pop up and subsequently are added to dictionaries. A relatively new word that has gained wide usage is the portmanteau "bromance", the offspring of "brother" and "romance". As a etymology hobbyist and a wannabe Greek scholar, I thought it would be fun to do some reverse-morphology. And so I present to you the Greek root for the word "bromance". Please welcome the newest member of the Greek lexicon, "phileros".

There is clear semblance between "phileros" and its parents. The first part comes from the Greek word "phileo" which refers to a brotherly love. The second part is "eros" which refers to a romantic love. The marriage of these two words gives us "phileros", a term that uniquely refers to the brotherly romances cited in this article and this article.

It is my plea to The Center for Greek Language that they consider "phileros" as the newest member of koine Greek. If you would like to support my efforts in having "phileros" added, please leave a comment and show all of your friends this note!

Bilingual dreams 双语梦

I've had a whole bunch of bilingual dreams, but this most recent one was very strange. In the dream, I was asking for some help with my Chinese to a Chinese friend of mine, but that whole interaction was very unusual. Here's how it went.

Hee Sung: Peter, how do you say, "please give me another ketchup?" Is it, "请再给我番茄子"?

Peter: Hmm...

Hee Sung: What's wrong with you? How come you don't know?

Peter: Um...

Hee Sung: How about coke? 再来一个可乐， 对不对？

Peter: Okay, maybe...

[ fast forward to a scene in a car in the forest ]

Hee Sung: Peter, 比方我和我的同学一起做了作业，他做得完美，我的部分有个错误。

Peter: Uh huh...

Hee Sung: 所以老师说，这是谁做的呢？有一个错误！ Is that how the teacher would say it?

Peter: HAHAHAHAHA

Hee Sung: 那我会说，这是我的，我把这个错误改一改，好不好？

Peter: 。。。改一改。。。?

Hee Sung: 对，“改一改”。。。


Okay so, this dream is so weird because I was asking for help with Chinese to a REAL Chinese friend of mine. And in real life, he would've been able to correct or improve my sentences (such as my mistake in "ketchup") . But in my dream, he didn't. Is it because my friend Peter is limited by my knowledge of Chinese since my brain is manufacturing him? If Peter corrected my grammar, he'd be providing information that I don't even know, but he's just a product of my brain! You get what I'm trying to say here?

The day I got crapped on by my sister's bunny

I was holding my sister's bunny rabbit snugly on my lap while she was clipping its nails. The bunny was kinda freaking out, kicking its legs and all. Then all of a sudden... it straight up unleashes a flood of diarrhea all up on me. I don't know what else to say.

visa update

Praise the Lord, the Beijing labor bureau has, in principle, accepted my application for the visa. Now it's only a matter of time before they finish the paperwork. It looks like I could be back in Beijing by the end of May! Thanks for all your prayers! ^_____^