双双对对

During class a few days ago, I introduced the quantifier (量词) – “一双” to a group of preschoolers. This quantifier is used when we have a pair of identical items, like:

A pair of shoes	一双鞋子
A pair of gloves	一双手套
A pair of chopsticks	一双筷子
A pair of eyes	一双眼睛
A pair of hands	一双手

What about “一对”? What is the difference between “一双” and “一对”?

 

Like “一双” , “一对” is used when there are 2 items. But the difference is that in “一对”, the 2 items are matching pair, not identical pair. What do I mean? For example, a couple (husband and wife), they are not the same person, but they are a pair. So we say 一对夫妇.  If there are 2 socks of different patterns, they are referred to as 一对袜子 instead of 一双袜子.

Luckily I know it's 幸亏

A lot of people are used to saying 好彩 to discribe situations which would otherwise have a bad outcome.  好彩 is actually the direct translation from dialects such as Hokkien and Cantonese. The right way of saying it should be 幸亏 or 幸好.

Eg. 幸亏我带了雨伞，不然就会被雨淋得像只落汤鸡一样了。

It’s hot! Don’t touch!

Kids are not aware of the dangers in their surroundings most of the time.  How often do you have to warn your little ones about a hot object and restrain them from touching it?  Time and again, I hear people say “烧! 不要碰!”

“烧”(shāo) is a verb. It means to heat up or to burn.  It is not an adjective to describe the hotness of an object.  Eg. 烧一壶水, or 烧水, but here it means boil the water, not hot water.

When we say “烧”in this context，we actually mean“热” (rè)  or “烫” (tàng). “热”describes an object that is hot, and “烫”when it’s scalding hot.
Eg. 这杯水是热的 (vs 这杯水是冷的)
       这杯茶很烫，要慢慢喝。

Extracted from Times Advanced Chinese Dictionary (时代高级汉语词典):

烧：【解释】动。燃烧，使燃烧，着火；用火加热，使物体起变化。

热：【解释】形。温度高。

烫：【解释】形。物体温度高。

Is there any difference between 绿 and 青?

One day, my DH asked me what’s the difference between 绿 and 青, when to use which. I realized I don’t really know. So I did a bit of research and this is what I found.

绿 = green = 黄色 + 蓝色  (colour code: #009000)
青 = cyan = 绿色 + 蓝色 (colour code: #00FFFF)

Cyan is between green and blue; it’s lighter than green, and closer to blue. That’s way 青天 is sometimes used in Chinese literature to refer to the sky.  The dictionary also explained that the idiom “青出于蓝” originated from the traditional way of extracting 青 (dye colour) from a grass called 蓝草. So now the idiom makes sense, since 青 comes from 蓝.

Extracted from Times Advanced Chinese Dictionary (时代高级汉语词典):

青天
【解释】:蓝色的天空。

青出于蓝
【解释】：青：靛青；蓝：蓼蓝之类可作染料的草。青是从蓝草里提炼出来的，但颜色比蓝更深。比喻学生超过老师或后人胜过前人。

I never knew that!  I’ve been using 绿 and 青 inter-changeably. I believe many people are doing that too.  I would say, generally, when it comes to describing the nature (tress and plants), 绿 is the word to use.

Here’s some 形容词 and 成语 that uses 绿 and 青:

“绿”字成语
    
绿叶成荫           绿草如茵           红花绿叶           红男绿女           花红柳绿
红情绿意           红红绿绿           大红大绿           灯红酒绿

“青”字成语

青梅竹马           青黄不接           青云直上           青出于蓝           青红皂白
青史留名           平步青云           炉火纯青           四季长青

“绿”字形容词

绿油油的…        绿色蔬菜           绿叶                  绿化环境           翠绿的…
绿莹莹的…        深绿                  浅绿

“青”字形容词

脸色发青               脸青唇白               青葱的…