Hashi is hashi is hashi

[NEOBassDUDE]

Can someone appease my interest? I know that はし means chopsticks, edge, and bridge. Can someone write up a sentence like "I threw my chopsticks over the edge of the bridge." using the kanji?


Also, I just thought of this... why in the world are they called 'chopsticks' in 英語？


ありがと

[dreamer]

hum...Chopsticks(筷子) were invented about 5,000 years ago in China. Back then Food was chopped into small pieces so it could be cooked more rapidly. So chopsticks may means "sticks to grab chopped food"
Another reason could be that it's used to grab food quickly with dexterity(ie another meaning of chop: quick movements)...anyway I'll try to ask my mom since the word 筷 is pronounced just like 快 which means fast/quick

Edit: actually it appears there's several way to write quick but the 2nd one is used only for chopsticks...
so the 2nd reason might be the true one since 筷子 then means quick little (buddy?)

[NEOBassDUDE]

Thanks for the reply!

I've been interested in words that have multiple meanings such as this, it's fascinating really.

[Glenn]

Can someone appease my interest? I know that はし means chopsticks, edge, and bridge. Can someone write up a sentence like "I threw my chopsticks over the edge of the bridge." using the kanji?


Also, I just thought of this... why in the world are they called 'chopsticks' in 英語？


ありがと

Hmm, this brings up a question, for me at least. And that would be: how would you say "throw over?" Here is what I'm thinking for a possible translation of your sentence: 橋の端をはしを投げた。 I'm guessing を for throwing over the edge, but it seems strange to have two nouns marked as accusative in the same sentence. Is this correct? or is there a better/more natural/more correct (or simply just correct) way to say it?

[stephenmunday]

This is a little off subject, but have you tried finding the difference in pronunciation that the Japanese claim there is between hashi (bridge) and hashi (chopsticks)? I have had various Japanese teacher-types try to convince me that there is some slightly different nuance. The interesting thing is that when you get two Japanese together, get one to say one of the "hashi" and the other to state which one was being spoken, they often get it wrong!

It seems to me that this is all part of the Japanese-is-unique-and-only-Japanese-people-have-a-hope-of-understanding it theory....

[Golgo_13]

The Japanese use 箸 for hashi, the chopstick. More commonly said "ohashi"

橋 is bridge.

And 端 is edge But "hashikko" is a more commonly used form for "edge"

Nihon-bashi no hashikko kara ohashi o nageta.

B+ for effort :relief:

[stephenmunday]

Golgo 13 - your message got chopped....

[Golgo_13]

Sir,

I glued it back together. Jolly good!

[Glenn]

The Japanese use 箸 for hashi, the chopstick. More commonly said "ohashi"

橋 is bridge.

And 端 is edge But "hashikko" is a more commonly used form for "edge"

Nihon-bashi no hashikko kara ohashi o nageta.

B+ for effort :relief:

そうですか。「から」という言葉でしたね。 I was thinking of that earlier, but then I forgot it. Heh, my memory isn't much. :blush:

As for the other stuff, I just assumed that it was はし for everything. Oh well.

By the way, why did you go with Nihon-bashi? Isn't that a specific hashi?

[Golgo_13]

As for the other stuff, I just assumed that it was はし for everything. Oh well.
The pronunciation is slightly different for each as well. Intonation, inflection, whatever.


By the way, why did you go with Nihon-bashi? Isn't that a specific hashi?

Just "Hashi" would've been boring. It's a famous bridge in Tokyo.

I had more Japanese puns somewhere.

[Elizabeth]

This is a little off subject, but have you tried finding the difference in pronunciation that the Japanese claim there is between hashi (bridge) and hashi (chopsticks)? I have had various Japanese teacher-types try to convince me that there is some slightly different nuance. The interesting thing is that when you get two Japanese together, get one to say one of the "hashi" and the other to state which one was being spoken, they often get it wrong!
Here is one view of hashi that was agreed to in a previous post for what it's worth -- Chopsticks is High--Low pitch accented, Bridge is Low--High, Edge is even. I've had the same difficulty trying to get various inflections of Ishi (Stone/rock, intention/mind, physician) to match up with actual speakers, though, so it's not necessarily anything worth pursuing beyond a certain point.

[stephenmunday]

Thanks Elizabeth. I had forgotten which was supposed to be which. My point was that in a blind test situation (OK, it wasn't really scientific, but I did it for fun when I was finiding it very hard to tell the difference myself), native speakers rarely did better in differentiating between the two than if they had just flipped a coin and guessed.

The ironic thing was that the same native speakers had been very insistent that there was a clear difference that the gaijin should try to emulate.

[Golgo_13]

When used in complete sentences you can usually tell which hashi it is by the context.

[Elizabeth]

The ironic thing was that the same native speakers had been very insistent that there was a clear difference that the gaijin should try to emulate.
I think they do each bring an independent set of ears which comes from not encoding intonation as much as context in picking up the meaning from real time speech.

[stephenmunday]

You are probably right, ELizabeth. But if that is the case then it seems to negate the relevance of the supposed nuances of intonation.

I guess you can tell that I got frustrated when I was very insistently informed that there was a difference and that I should be able to hear it (even though I couldn't), only to discover through my own investigation that natives could also not hear that same difference out of context. It just seemed to me to be another aspect of nihonjin-ron mysticism.

[Golgo_13]

How about:

"Jibun no ishi de ishi o nageta ishi."

The doctor who threw a stone willingly

[stephenmunday]

ma~ sore mo iishi...