? qulugh ai ? sair ? nyair

'white rat year, four month, four day'

Fourth month, fourth day, four topics - all from today for once. I hope to revisit my backlog later.

1. Let's play Spot the Hanja!

2. Sino-Korean homophones. The story involving the confusion of 防水 <PROTECT WATER> pangsu 'waterproof' and 放水 <RELEASE WATER> pangsu 'drain' has been disputed.

3. I haven't had furigana fun on this blog in a while. In 光文社 Kōbunsha's short-lived Japanese translation of the American comic book Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom is called 破滅博士 which looks like it should be read Hametsu Hakase 'Dr. Destruction' but has the furiganaドクター・ドゥーム Dokutā Dūmu.

That blog gives me the impression that Dr. Doom lives in a country called 幸福王国 which looks like it should be read Kōfuku ōkoku 'Happiness Kingdom' but has the furigana ラトベリア Ratoberia 'Latveria'. But without seeing a scan of the name in the comic, I can't be sure.

4. Today I learned about לוף‎ <lwp> Luf 'Loof', an extinct kosher version of SPAM. Is Loof really derived from (meat)loaf as Wikipedia says? Although Loof is apparently not being produced anymore, the name might live on as a generic word for canned beef, as it is in this list of IDF terms. That list addresses something I've long wondered about: what is it like for an overseas volunteer to join the IDF and learn Hebrew? (4.27.1:24: This gives me a bit of an idea.)

4.27.0:51: Ghil'ad Zuckermann on Luf:

Meatloaf (pronounced in Israeli luf rather than lof) is what we were forced to eat in the army when there was no kitchen around…