Earworming Vocab

henning
February 07, 2008, 06:49 AM posted in General Discussion

Ever experienced that vocab hums in your brain/ear over and over like a cheezy pop melody?

In Germany sticking melodies are called "Ohrwurm" (ear worm). Obviously, there is no equivalent expression in both English and Chinese (耳朵虫子, 耳虫?).

 

Well, since the arrival of The Fix I got that for Chinese phrases frequently -  especially sayings and Chengyus.

Among others it happened to me with:

 近朱者赤,近墨者黑 (jìnzhūzhěchì, jìnmòzhěhēi; a man is judged by his associates)

 千叮咛万嘱咐 (qiān dīngníng wàn zhǔfù; to warn again and again)

 不醉不鬼 (bùzuìbùguī, to not return without getting drunk)

撑死胆大的,饿死胆小的 (chēngsǐ dǎndà de, èsǐ dǎnxiǎo de, the bold die of gluttony, while the meek starve)

 

Unfortunatelly, like with that cheesy pop-song one picks up from the radio you cannot chose for yourself what sticks and what doesnÄt. The phrases that I really want to learn just fades. When trying to recall those instead yet another stupid 千叮咛万嘱咐 or 不醉不鬼 posup in my head - in auto-repeat-mode.

It gets uncomfortable if the phrase comes - but I forgot its meaning.
This was long the case for  近朱者赤,近墨者黑. The sounds were all there but I did not have the slightest clue regarding their meaning or writing. 

 

I wonder if you can ever get this into a more willfully designed mode - it would be powerful for remembering the more heavy stuff.

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