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A bit short on the news front lately, I know… And not likely to get any better soon. In fact, consider this the official seasonal warning about the usual 3-week writing slump to be followed by lengthy catch-up, once I’m done strangling the manes of Mssrs. Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen with my bare hands, once and for all.

But before we dim the light, turn off the gas and put this page in energy-saving mode for the rest of the month, it’s time for a bit of ego rambling and life status update, for the benefit of the three people (cat and genetically-invested relatives included) who give a damn.

Yes, you may have noticed: next Friday is that day again, and thus, this year’s edition of Existential Week is under way.

Please come back: no longwinded self-serving cheese and whine party, this time around. To tell the truth, we were tittering on the edge for a few days, but doubled the meds, resumed intraveinous vodka doses in the morning… and now the sun is shining and the future bright again! [insert Absolut Zoloft sponsor message here]

What you will get though, is a world-premiere announcement of Dr Dave’s Life Projects for the Fall 2005 Season: hang on to your mouse, it’s earth-shattering stuff we got here. Particularly if you are my mom and wondering if I am still attending seminary or been ordained yet.

OK, first, gotta break the bad news to my affectionate otaku readership (I know you exist, I can smell you all the way here):

Dr Dave is leaving Japan!

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Clicking through some stuff this morning, I stumbled upon somebody’s account of life in China, and in particular, a funny observation about hanzis:

Turning now to Chinese characters: We are learning them again at last, and many make me pleased. The character for “to endure” is a knife held to a heart. A tomb is required to draw “antique.” There are other things, too, of course: the local glyphic idea of “peace” is a woman in a house, while that of “family” is a pig in a house. This surely explains either less or more than it purports to.

Like most people, I too struggle to give more or less apocryphal interpretations to kanjis in order to make them more memorable. Some of my findings are quite far-fetched. Yet, this particular set never occurred to me before (as usual: mouse-over to get kanji pronunciation and meaning):

  • 忍, as in 忍ぶ, is made of 心 and 刃
  • A woman (女) under a “roof” (宀), becomes 安… Though in japanese, the 安 character doesn’t really hold the meaning of “peace” as in “war and peace” (usually written 平和), but rather a “spiritual, inner, peace” (安心). Interestingly, it is frequently used to indicate “cheapness” or “easiness” (安い).
  • A “pig” (豕) under a “roof” (宀), becomes a “house” (家) and by extension: a “family” (家族).

Funny how the semantic oddity has been perfectly preserved in the transition from Chinese to Japanese (commonplace, indeed, but certainly not the all-encompassing rule).

Of course, there are hundred of these observations to be made, and I could probably come up with stories for nearly every kanji I know, but to stay with the farm theme, there is this one classic I really can’t get over:

Japanese kanji for “beauty” (美) is none other than a combination of “big” (大) and “sheep” (羊): makes way for all sorts of weird thought processes when a friend points out a 美人 in the street…