The meaning of 666

In terms of Chinese, 666 is an internet slang that means something along the lines of "good job", "well done".

In most parts of China, “溜”, pronounced "liu", means "good at doing something", and the number 6 is also pronounced "liu" in Chinese, and that's how it came about.

This slang was first used in online games, likely MMORPG games, before it became widely used. Which is logical when you think on it, as those who do play online games would know that typing fast often saves lives. Typing "666" is definitely faster than typing the same in Chinese using the QWERTY keyboard - imagine wasting time choosing the correct word in the midst of battle!

Increasing the number of sixes, I guess, would mean deepening the degree of the praise, similar to "!" versus "!!!!".

AA制, AB制, and AO制

Remember the AA post previously?

Apparently it's also used in China to mean going Dutch. They call it "AA制" or "AA treat", where "AA" means "Algebraic Average".

From this comes another one: "AB制", or "AB treat".

This has become a fad among young people, where males would choose to pay a bigger slice of the bill, and the remainder would be paid by the females dining with them.

What about the male paying all for the female?

Yup, that would be the "AO制". The "O" here stands for zero, because the female basically paid zero cents.

床前没有光

上个礼拜的某一天, 经过睡觉前好多, 好多分钟和隔天约莫半天的细心教导、解释、甚至画画! 外加不少的软磨硬泡，哄骗的给了他多五分钟的iPad时间后，终于，终于! 教侄儿背了《静夜思》。。。的第一句。

汗颜。

但当他举一反三地把 "床前明月光" 故意说成 "床前没有光" 时，我是欣慰的，因为这证明他是了解那句的意思的。

今天已经教了他第三句。

可是他在学校不知怎么学了这句： “你妈妈没有毛，你爸爸没有毛”，而在念诗时，总是把这句有毛没毛的加进去。

哎哟，好头痛。

Kids these days

The Nephew called the Dad the other day and reported his overall exam results. Apparently it was better than expected (the Dad heard from the Bro some days before about the test results). Dad, although very happy, couldn't fathom how that could happen, and called up the Bro.

A few minutes after the Dad hung up the call with the Bro, the Bro called back.

Because the Bro was surprised, cos 1, the Nephew didn't tell HIM, and 2, there was no school that day, so how would the Nephew suddenly know his results? - he called the Nephew up.

And what did the Nephew say when the Bro asked how he knew?

"I guessed one."

*facepalm

We were all stupefied how the Nephew can just call and reported his exam results without really knowing, and not mentioning that he only actually guessed the results.

The kids these days.

*thumbs up

2 quotes from Dean Koontz's Odd Interlude #1

Was tidying up one of my hard drives and saw 2 quotes that I jolted down last time from Dean Koontz's Odd Interlude #1.

Quote 1:
Because I so love this wondrous world, I am by nature optimistic and of good humor. My friend and mentor Ozzie Boone says buoyancy is one of my better qualities. However, as though to warn that excess buoyancy might lead to carelessness, he sometimes reminds me that shit, too, floats.

Quote 2:
The gun once belonged to the wife of a minister in Magic Beach. Her husband, the reverend, had shot her to death before she could shoot him. In their particular denomination of Christianity, the faithful are evidently too impatient to wait for prayer to solve their problems.


Hurhur. There's always more than one way to view things, isn't there.

Time to go to...

You know that cliché where it is claimed that there are 50 Eskimo words for snow, leading to the argument that "language embodies different local concerns in different areas of the world"?

In Chinese, there are many different ways of saying "going to the toilet", like:

上厕所 - shàng cè suǒ
去方便 - qù fāng biàn
如厕 - rú cè
更衣 - gēng yī
解手 - jiě shǒu
出恭 - chū gōng
净手 - jìng shǒu
撇条 - piě tiáo
解溲 - jiě sōu

Does that embody some particular concern for going to the toilet for this culture?

Just saying. :p

Levi's ad translation

Saw this person asking how to say this in English in HiNative - a Levi's ad that's in Chinese.

Using I-should-try-to-help as an excuse for procrastination, below's my attempt at translating it, after revisions.

The world is changing.
Are you the one who will change the world?
Have you ever decided which path the ship of destiny will go?
Straight on, or just go with the flow?
From the first moment to the last,
has the world ever changed because of you?
You yourself, with your backpack,
you already have everything you need going forward.
You shall write your own motto.
You shall create your own legend.
This era is ours.

Craving Ice

Do you crave for ice? Until you can be termed an ice addict?

I used to love to eat ice. The home and office fridge was also stocked up with ice. I was kinda the official ice lady in office. With the nickname "ice ice baby". It can even be said most of my water intake came from eating ice cos whenever I felt thirsty, I went for ice first.

Not all ice are equal. Notice how some ice are transparent all the way (pure ice), while some are cloudy (ice with trapped impurities and minerals) - those cloudy ones taste the best. Like ice kacang ice. Very shiok.

People have told me eating so much ice isn't good. Especially for the teeth. But I've got no fillings, no decaying teeth - I even thought eating ice helped in maintaining the no dental fillings situation. People have their likes and dislikes, right? Like how some love to eat cake. I love to eat ice. Nothing wrong what. At least ice's kinda healthier than cake... XD

Until I read online that it might be a form of pica, where one has an appetite for substances that are largely non-nutritive, such as ice, soil, or chalk.

So when I went for a body checkup couple of years ago, I mentioned my ice craving to the doc. She then recommended me to take a ferritin blood test, which measures the amount of stored iron in the body. So I did, and waited to collect the results one week later.

Before the week was up, the doc called. She told me to go get some iron pills immediately and start eating them. She said the iron in my body was very low. I didn't know how low until I went to see her for the body checkup results.

Apparently my ferritin level was 2, resulting in low blood count - a 7.9. Doc said if the blood count reaches 7, it's time for blood transfusion. She's amazed I'm not always dizzy or something, and remarked maybe I've gotten used to it all these years.

So I started eating iron pills. Sangobion. Didn't cause constipation, heng ah. People have remarked I have more color in my face and lips. And what about ice?

I stopped craving them. I kinda miss the shiokness in eating them, though. I've tried to eat some once in a while, but that shiokness isn't there anymore.

And now if I see my friends who crave ice to the point of being addicted, I will ask them to go see a doc and maybe do some blood test.

The difference between 王室 and 皇室

王室 and 皇室 both mean the royal family, so what's the difference?

If the monarch is the king/queen kind - the more western type - use 王室. Cos 国王.

If the monarch is the emperor kind - the more eastern type - use 皇室. Cos 皇帝.

Word of the day - 外挂

Learned a new word in HiNative.com.

Someone asked, "What does 外挂 mean?"

The chrome extension dictionary explained the word as
1) attached externally (eg, fuel tank)
2) plug-in
3) add-on
4) special software used to cheat in an online game

Both answers given in HiNative were (4). Which I guess when without context, 外挂 is more popularly known as something that people use to cheat when playing online games.

One helpful person further went on to give an example sentence “像开了外挂一样” - which was explained as when describing someone using this sentence, means that person's life and etc is very smooth sailing, so smooth sailing to the point that it's easy to make other people jealous.

Which translation are you more inclined towards?

Came upon this sentence during class, "He that makes himself a sheep shall be eaten by the wolf."

Translation of the above would depend on how one interprets the meaning.

How would you translate it to be? Of the two translations below, which are you more inclined towards?

(1) 扮猪吃老虎的人会被狼吃。
(2) 不努力把自己变强的人会被吞没。

Where are your hands

The other day during lesson, teacher was talking about how English is very lorsoh as compared to Chinese, and that sometimes when interpreting, we can ignore those not very necessary parts and cut straight to the point, like the below.

EN: I would be most grateful if you could speak a bit louder.
CN: 请你大声点。

Or,

EN: Will all those who are in favor of this change, please signify by raising their hands?
CN: 赞成的请举手。

And then the topic digressed to how during concerts, the artists on stage would say stuff like, "你们的手在哪里！" when they want the audience to raise their hands and clap and etc. Teacher then went, "谁不知道他们自己的手在哪儿啊？？" Can tell she is not very impressed with them. XD

Motivated to move

Activity trackers like those from Fitbit, Jawbone, and etc, are great. They encourage people to move more by having goals to meet and showing one's results / progress everyday.

What's more awesome than the above?

ACTIVITY TRACKERS WITH REWARDS.

Like AIA Vitality, one can get $10 worth of vouchers (Cold Storage / Uber / Starbucks) every week (individual + team), and the upcoming National Steps Challenge. The rewards are not much, but pairing up with rewards do have more motivation for people to move.

DK said if not for this, he won't move much, which I concur. 有钱能使鬼推墨 and we are the 懒惰鬼s. Hurhur.

What a song

Trying out songs with funny/super long/weird titles during KTV can be hilarious. This one with its super long title caught our eyes.

《张士超你到底把我家钥匙放在哪里了》

Must try right!



It had us all laughing throughout the whole song.

HAHAHAHAH Amazing. 杨宗纬's superb for maintaining a straight face throughout the song. Though I think he smirked a little at the end. hahahahha

The difference between 立刻 and 顿时

A classmate whatsapped the group asking, what's the difference between 立刻 and 顿时?

You know what - I dunno, so I googled.


立刻
EN: right away; immediately
CN: 表示紧接着某个时候，马上
Sentence1: 请同学们立刻回到教室去。
Sentence2: 老师一进来，教室里立刻安静了。

顿时
EN: suddenly; at once
CN: 很快地；一下子
Sentence1: 听到这个好消息，各种欢呼声顿时在全程响起。
Sentence2: 她看到他非常高兴，顿时完全忘记了之前的烦恼。

"两者都有在很短的时间内动作很快地开始或结束的意思，但是顿时只用于描述过去发生的事情，立刻咩有此限度，顿时不能用于祈使句，立刻可以。"


Hmmm. So the biggest difference is in "suddenly" vs "immediately".

Another person within the group replied with an answer that I think is so much better that the above: 立刻通常指马上去执行一个行动。顿时是指一个时间点，像突然间。eg: 顿时恍然大悟。

So nice to have such awesome classmates.

乖乖

When we use 乖乖, it's often in this way, "乖乖啊，不然打你屁股。"

Or, as a noun, "我的小乖乖，有没有想我啊？"

But did you know, other than the above, it can also be used as an interjection (叹词)?

"外面好冷啊， 乖乖，冻死我啦！" - akin to "OMG", "wow", and the such.

Caterpreters

Different people from different parts of the world speak different languages.

In order to understand each other, translators and interpreters weave their magic and make things easier.

Now.

Japan cats go "nyan", while SG cats supposedly go "meow". I have never heard a cat go "nyan" in SG. Seriously.

When a Japan cat meets an SG cat, do they need an interpreter a caterpreter?


An aside: call me bias, but I think dogs make all kinds of sounds, so I feel the Chinese version of  "汪汪" and English version of "woof", "arf", "grrrr" are all perfectly acceptable. :p

Goodness

What would Dolly the sheep think of this?

I want to use this on someone someday

你属虾的啊，脑子里装的全是屎吗？

#itsgoodtohaveambitions #胸怀大志

死就是死

"不得好死" is a very common curse.

But strictly speaking, 死就是死, 管他个好死还是坏死呢?

As long as one lives, there is hope, be it 生不如死 or not. Once dead, there's nothing, absolutely nothing, for that person anymore.

In that light, maybe "祝你早死" would be a better malediction as compared to "不得好死" and "生不如死", for (1) the other two means letting the person suffer, that's not very nice, and (2) there's a "祝" there oh, which is polite.

当然，以上只是建议，没有恶意，请不要(太)在意。

A baker's dozen

A dozen == 12
A baker's dozen == 13

Why?

It is believed that this came from medieval times, when bread was sold by weight. If bakers were found to have sold "underweight" bread, they would be punished. So when people buy a dozen, they would give another loaf just in case.

Another theory is that bakers would charge vendors 13 loaves for the price of 12, making it something like a wholesale price, so the vendors can make a profit on their side.

The difference between 刹那 and 霎时

Both are nouns, and both means a super short time frame.

Here are their differences-


刹那
= 一瞬间. aka 刹时
sentence example: 觉得他满身灰尘的后影，刹时高大了... ...
刹 is pronounced chà and not shà
"刹那"可作壮语，也能作宾语
"刹那" 可说成 "一刹那"


霎时
= 一会儿. aka 霎时间
sentence example: 小陈脸色霎时变得苍白。
霎 is pronounced shà and not sà
"霎时" 只能作壮语，不能作宾语
"霎时" 不可说成 "一霎时"

听雨

在家里，我不是一个有事没事会每分每秒盯着窗外看外头是怎么样的天气来着的人。

所以当外面下起雨时，我不是靠看，而是靠听出来的。几乎每一次我喊"下雨了！"时，老爸老妈都未察觉外面的天其实已经变了。有时他们还不信呢。真是一个下，一个听，一个准。

厉害吧。

我是一个睡眠蛮浅，又难轻易入睡的人。晚上碰到下雨时，简直是被听醒的。

现在时间凌晨一点半。

不厉害了吧。

听个屁啊，听雨。我要睡觉，呜呜。

会面、会见、会晤、会谈 - 会不会？

Was reading a news article and came across these 4 terms all in the same article:　会面、会见、会晤、会谈

So what's the difference between them?

Checked the dictionary, googled a little, and the results are as per the below.

会面
解释： 见面
英语： meet
同义词： 会见、会晤


会谈
解释： 双方或多方共同进行的商谈
英语： talks; conversation; negotiation
同义词： 商谈、座谈
More info:
   - 双方或多方就某些重大的政治、经济、文化、军事问题，以及其他共同关心的问题交换意见
   - 一般说来内容较为正式，政治性或专业性较强


会见
解释： 跟别人相见
英语： meet with
同义词： 会晤、会面
More info:
   - 一般适用于普通人之间的见面
   - 书面语用的也比较多
seems like there's further classification:
   - 身份高的人士会见身份低的 / 主人会见客人： 一般称为接见或召见
   - 身份低的人士会见身份高的 / 客人会见主人： 一般称为拜会或拜见
 

会晤
解释： 相见,会面晤谈
英语： meet
同义词： 会面、会见、见面
More info:
   - 国家最高领导人之间的见面

AA

Following the BAE acronym, here's another one: AA.

Overheard in the MRT the other day, I asked the Sis, "Eh, test you, what's AA? I heard them saying, 'Yeah, he thinks he very AA one lor, can't stand him.'"

The Sis also dunno, so she went to test her friends. They came back saying that's a common one, AA == attract attention.

I'm either a mountain turtle, or old age is catching up, or both. Cos when I think of AA, the first thing that comes to mind is... double A battery.

Checking the urban dictionary shows a lot of other things that AA can stand for: Alcoholic Anonymous, African American, the bra size for women that don't need bras, and etc. But guess these are not as applicable here as "attract attention".


Edit: following a conversation with a friend on this, she said her mom uses this to mean "split the bill", as in, in a restaurant and on way to settle the bill, "Let's do AA." For the record, this occurred in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

#funnyfails

Shared by Teacher during class:

There was this person who doesn't speak Chinese. Let's call him A. He went to visit this Chinese couple with a friend who speaks Chinese. Let's call this friend T.

At the door, the Chinese couple greeted A and T. Being the polite person A is, he told the Chinese man (let's call this guy M), "Your wife is very pretty." T proceeds to help with interpretating.

T: 你的太太很漂亮。

M smiles at A: 哪里哪里。

T turns to A: Where? Where?

A blinks: ... Everywhere! From head to toe.

兄 and 哥

In English, the word "brother" can mean either an elder brother, or the younger brother.

In Chinese, elder brother is "哥哥", while younger brother is "弟弟".

In Japanese, elder brother is "兄", while younger brother is "弟".


So teacher was sharing an incident in her other class where she teaches Chinese.

One of her students, a Japanese, was asked to write "elder brother" in Chinese. Because Chinese and Japanese had words to differentiate the elder from the younger brother, unlike English, the student had no problems understanding what was needed. The thing she couldn't do was remembering the words for "elder brother" in Chinese.

And so in the end she wrote... "兄兄".

Interlingual and Intersemiotic Translation

A picture of interlingual translation and intersemiotic translation together.

Lucky it does not come with a real cockroach pic.

肮脏 vs 脏

During lesson one day, teacher (from China) was sharing with us some "language shocks" she had when she first came to Singapore.

One of them was hearing how locals use the words "肮脏". Singaporeans use "肮脏" to describe something as being dirty, like, "This table is very dirty." A very normal situation in life, no biggies.

To them though, in China, "肮脏" is used to describe a person's character. It's a very very negative description. It has this meaning: "比喻卑鄙、丑恶;道义上应受指责". One definitely does not want to be described as "肮脏".

Imagine her shock when she heard us say, "这个桌子很肮脏。"

She went on to ask a fellow classmate who's from China how she felt when she first heard that sentence.

And the classmate's reply was, "我觉得那个桌子好可怜。" LOL

So how do they say a table's dirty in China? Just "脏" will do, like, "这个桌子很脏。"

False Friends - 祭

For people who know Chinese, you'll know the word 祭 is related to rites, rituals, sacrifices. It has not so positive connotations.

For people who know Japanese, you'll know the word 祭 is related to festivals. It has very positive connotations.

So if your colleague goes to Japan, buys back a banner with the word 祭 to hang as decoration in the office cubicle in an office with more Chinese than Japanese, maybe it's good to advice said colleague to take it down. XD

This BAE is not that BAE

So one day the Sis was telling me about this generation gap thing in her office. A colleague was asked what's BAE (pronounced BAY, as in B-A-E). And the colleague promptly replied, "Porridge", thinking it's the dialect word for porridge. I blinked and concurred.

The youngsters in the office were horrified and corrected said colleague. BAE actually stands for "Before Anyone Else". To quote,

"BAE is an acronym that's typically used to refer to a boyfriend or a girlfriend, a lover, a crush or really anyone considered to be the most important person in another person's life. The trend is particularly popular with teens and young adults—many of which type the lowercase version of bae as a word itself as an alternative to babe or boo on social media."

I guess my age is showing.

For a more detailed history of BAE, what it means, and how to use it, see this article on Lifewire.

Tir na Nog, by Robin Flower

I've always loved poems, especially poems that rhyme.
One of my favourites is Tir na Nog, by Robin Flower.

Tir na Nog, in Irish mythology, is the Land of the Young. In one of the tales, a human visits it, spends some time there, then wants to go back home. Only to find that, upon reaching home, a few hundred years had passed by, and upon setting on home soil, the human grows old immediately, then dies. Sounds familiar?

Interestingly, other cultures have similar tales, like Japanese's Urashima Taro. Makes one wonder how two such different cultures have such similar concepts huh...

Anyway! Robin Flower's poem nicely describes Tir na Nog and the lure it has on mortals. The last paragraph is especially poignant, for who hasn't, in his/her entire life, yearned for something that others couldn't understand, and can never understand?


     I heard the summer calling across great breadths of sea
     In the landwind and the seawind and the wind of gramerie;
     For the seawind speaks in thunder and the landwind whispers low,
     But the little wind of faery you scarce can hear it blow.

     But listen, listen, listen and you shall hear afar
     A low and lovely murmur like the singing of a star,
     And listen, listen, listen till all things fade and fall
     And the lone and luring music is master over all.

     And you shall hear it chanting in one triumphant chime
     Of the life that lives for ever and the fugitives of time
     Beyond the green lands' border and the washing wastes of sea
     In the world beyond the world's end, where nothing is but glee.

     The magic waters gird it, and skies of laughing blue
     Keep always faith with summer and summer still is true;
     There is no end of dancing and sweet unceasing song
     And eyes to eyes make answer and love with love grows strong.

     But close your ears and silence the crying of your heart
     Lest in the world of mortals you walk a man apart
     For O! I heard the music and answered to the call
     And the landwind mocks my longing and the seawind saddens all.

职业病

According to Baidu百科, "职业病是指企业、事业单位和个体经济组织等用人单位的劳动者在职业活动中，因接触粉尘、放射性物质和其他有毒、有害物质等因素而引起的疾病。"

Translated to English, it's "occupational diseases". According to Wiki, "An occupational disease is any chronic ailment that occurs as a result of work or occupational activity."

The "chronic ailment" refers to physical diseases like skin/lung diseases. But often when 职业病 appears in everyday conversations, I realise that the term actually refers to a person's action, an action related to the person's occupation.

• The person in finance insists to divide the cost right down to the last penny. We say it's the person's 职业病.

• The English teacher goes crazy when the friend forgets to put a comma and a full stop in the sentence - and has the friend edit the sentence. We say it's the teacher's 职业病.

• The XHTML programmer frowns when the colleague uses <br> instead of <br /> - and proceeds to add the / behind.

• The person working in postal goes admiring and taking pictures of mail boxes when travelling in foreign countries.

The "chronic ailment" is now more like a mental state instead of a physical state, a mental state that causes the action, which in turn triggers the use of the term 职业病.

And interestingly, when the term is used thus, from what I can recall, I've only heard it used in its Chinese form - 职业病 - and rarely, if ever, in English - occupation disease.

The difference between 兵 and 卒

兵 and 卒 both mean "soldier". But what is their difference?

From what I can piece together, the origin of 兵 came from weaponry (兵器). So originally, 兵 does not mean "soldier". 卒 came from 步卒, like, foot soldiers.

Eventually, it seems, 兵 would refer to soldiers that go to war, and 卒 would refer to soldiers stationed at garrisons and the like.

Some said nowadays both 兵 and 卒 mean "soldier". But can they be used interchangeably? I'm not sure, to be honest. What I know is, now, 兵 can adequately be used for "soldier", and it's the term used in everyday life, in conversations, news, and the such, while I've rarely heard 卒 being used, with Chinese chess (and idioms and the such) being the exception.

What does "quiet" mean to you?

According to dictionary.com, "quiet" can be an adjective, or a verb, used with, or without object.

"Quiet", when used to describe different things, can mean different things, like:
1) quiet neighbours == the neighbours make no noise / disturbing sounds
2) quiet street == the street is relatively free from noise
3) quiet person == the person is restrained in speech
4) quiet life == the life is peaceful with little disturbance
5) quiet afternoon == there is little activity for the afternoon

Very straightforward.

Yet conversations are often not so straightforward.

I was checking into a hotel in Scotland the other day, before noon. The neighbourhood around the hotel is a residential area, and the streets around are rather quiet - relatively free from noise, with not much activity in terms of humans and cars - even though the hotel is less than 5 mins walk from the main street.

So I commented to the lady checking me in, "This area is rather quiet, isn't it?" She looked up, thought for a moment, smiled, and said, "Yes, there are not much cars going past, so a room facing the street wouldn't have much disturbances, but, if you'd prefer, I can try to arrange a room that does not face the street."

I was stumped for a moment, because that absolutely did not occur to me. My concern was that it was a quiet neighbourhood, and since it's already so quiet during the day, won't it be even more so during the night? Safety was my top concern, especially when I'm a woman travelling alone.

So I said, "Erm, I mean, during the night, is it also this quiet? Is it okay to come back late?"

The lady's face then brightened as she realised what I was driving at, "Oh, yes, yes, of course! It is safe, absolutely, it's just a short walk from the main street, it's fine! This is a residential area, so that's why it's a little quiet, you don't have to worry."

So, while a "quiet neighbourhood/street around a hotel" can have a person thinking of "a room that does not face the street", it can also mean "is the area actually safe?" Not so straightforward now, when factoring in the background of the hotel staff and the hotel guest.

I wonder is it a culture thing, that westerns are very confident that it's safe, since it's just a short walk from the main street, that lone women travellers are more concerned about safety? Or a work related thing, that hotel guests are more concerned with having a quiet environment to rest? Or maybe the staff is just so used to the area, that the topic of safety did not occur to her at all.

What other connotations of "quiet" can you think of and/or encountered?

The stuff one learns on a Scotland trip

Bonnie
You most likely know this already - "bonnie" means "handsome" for males, and "pretty" for females. I've always thought it means "little". Super wrong. So imagine my first thought when I heard of "Bonnie Prince Charlie" - he's little? XD

Broch
Pronounced /ˈbrɒx/ - an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found only in Scotland. The one we visited was Dun Beag. Look out for the lamb wool - and lamb poop - all over the area. It was a lovely place. Despite the lamb poop.

Dun
A name in Gaelic for "fort". Similar to brochs.

Eilean
Means "island". So, "Eilean Donan" means "Island of Donan". Fergus, our tour guide, told us one of the films that had soldiers coming off the bridge of Eilean Donan Castle is historically incorrect - for the bridge was a later add-on, during early 1900s.

Highland Cows
I've always known them as "highland cows", because that's what we were told on our previous trip. But no one, absolutely no one, used it during this trip. Everyone called them "heilan coos", or "coos", like, "OMG! Look at them coos! They're so cute!" And Fergus always mock takes a deep breath and asks for patience when this happens. Haha. But he always very kindly slows down or even stops the mini bus when opportunity permits to let us go gaga over them and take pics of them.

Jacobite
Means "supporter of James".

Loch
Means "lake". Scotland has lots of lochs! Famous ones are of course, Loch Lomond and Loch Ness.

Lochan
Means "little lake". Makes me think of the adding of "-chan" to names in Japanese to mean a person younger than you.

Marquetry
Never heard of this until that visit to Eilean Donan Castle. It is "the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns". No pictures, sorry - can't take pics inside Eilean Donan Castle. Google image this word and you'll see lots of examples.

Perth 
The first thought that comes to mind might be - the city in Australia. But it is also a city in central Scotland, located on the banks of the River Tay. "Perth" is a Pictish word, meaning "wood" or "copse".

Scone
We all know scones - that bunch of bread that's so tasty with butter. It's pronounced /skoʊn, skɒn/
There's a Scone Palace in Scotland, and it's not pronounced the same - for the Palace, "Scone" is pronounced /ˈskuːn/

When do you use what? 信上/信里 and 写上/写下

When learning a new language, or when reading/writing something, are you often stuck at trying to understand what something means, or often wonder whether what you've wrote is correct, and hope someone can answer your doubts and questions?

You might want to try out HiNative, a global Q&A platform where you can ask people any questions on language, culture, and/or travel related. It also has an app, but because I have problems logging in via Lang-8, I uninstalled it. (Disclaimer: while I admit it's helpful, do note that not all answers are ... correct / what you expect.)

In HiNative, I came across this question from someone: "How do you say this in Simplified Chinese (China)? write your name on the letter"

Various people replied, including me, and the answers were roughly the same:
1. 在信上写上你的名字。
2. 在信里写下你的名字
3. 在信上写下你的名字
4. 在信里写上你的名字
5. 在信上写你的名字

As you can see from the above, the two major differences were "信上" vs. "信里" and "写上" vs. "写下", with the last omitting "上/下" altogether.

I can't find anything on "信上" vs. "信里", but searching for "写上" vs. "写下" returned a result from HiNative:

“写上”的语气强硬一点，一般是必须要写的东西，比如
老师对学生说：“作业本请写上名字。”
“写下”可以理解为语气稍微委婉一点，比如出去玩之后，老师对学生说：“写下你们的感受。”
不过虽然“写下”的语气委婉一点，也并不代表就可以随便拒绝。

As the person who wrote the above mentioned, it's interesting how we just use the words and never really thought about their differences. And when someone asks about it, we either don't know the difference, or find it so hard to explain it clearly.

The origin of "小王"

And so the other day while chatting with a friend, we came to the topic of 3rd parties in a marriage/relationship. The now-common term "小三" is used to refer to these 3rd parties, because, well, "三" equals to the number 3.

And when "小三" comes up in a conversion, I would automatically think of a woman, ie, the 3rd party is a female. Does this "小三" also refer to the male 3rd party? Apparently not.

Male 3rd parties are referred to as "小王". When I first learnt of it, my first thought was, "What? Prince?? Serious???" Both are 3rd parties, but the female version has such obvious negative connotations - a direct "小三" - while the male version is the opposite? It even somehow sounds cool?

But I was mistaken. The origin of the term came to be by adding a stroke to "三" - the stroke being a direct reference to a certain part of the male anatomy. Thus the male "小三" became "小王". And coincidence or not, "小王" also has the connotation of "male".

Ah, people's creativity and the wonders of language.

For those who know Chinese, here's an article from 蘋果日報 on this topic: 《「多一根」 男小三新稱「小王」》