Posting neat Chinese phrases whenever I feel like #30
上 + 下
(shàng + xià)
Iconic characters: one “arrow” up and one down! And if you feel some sense of déjà vu from last time, that’s because we’re doing more time analogies. If you had to choose between “up” and “down” to mean past or present, which would you pick? In any case, Chinese settled on ...
spoiler
up = past, and down = future. The way I’ve had it explained to me is that in writing, earlier events are on the top of the page and later events at the bottom, but I don’t trust this since it assumes widespread literacy historically. If you know a better explanation please advise!
bonus! tongue twister
下个星期见
(xià gè xīng qī jiàn)
[ɕja⁵¹
kɰɤ⁵¹
ɕɪŋ⁵⁵
tɕʰi⁵⁵
tɕjɛn⁵¹]
“see you next week” (down [one] star period see)
Chuck in shock, choked on chunky junk