[Fic] "Fault Lines" and "Perspective" -- Harry Potter; fic research

[edenfalling]

Look! It's the 30th piece of "Fixation, and Other Stories," all done and posted! I will post the tag ficlet tomorrow, and then I am officially done with thirtyforthree, and Ginny/Harry/Draco will be up for grabs again if anyone else wants the pairing.

Now I just have to put the pieces in order, edit them again, and see if anyone is willing to beta them for me. Ah, the work, it never ends...

Theme: #22 - Remembering
Warnings: none

( Fault Lines )

( Perspective )

---------------------------------------------

In a totally unrelated topic, how does one say "Die!" in Japanese, where the implied 'you' is 'you fucking bastard' or something along those lines? "I'm going to rip your heart out" would be an acceptable alternate, or "I'm going to skin you alive," or even just "I'm going to kill you." But all very rude and abrupt.

(This is actually relevant for "Lemonade.")

And for "Debts," my Angel Sanctuary story, can someone give me a good Chinese translation of Summer Rain as a girl's name? Or a good name for the third son of a moderately prosperous farming family about 2000 years ago?

I will be much obliged for any help!

ETA: Thank you very much for all your help!

Comments

[baka-neko.livejournal.com]

For the girl, I'll imagine it would be Xia(4)-Yu(2).

For the guy, I'm not up to date on classical chinese, but it only matters if you're choosing the Chinese characters, I think. Off the top of my head, Yu Renjia, Jia Pingzhi, Lin Zhennan and so on.

[acyl.livejournal.com]

(Posting, 'cause valles_uf linked this LJ entry to the Drunkard's Walk Forums (http://p087.ezboard.com/bdrunkardswalkforums) and asked for advice)

I think it should be Xia4 Yu3, actually. I can't, offhand, think of any Yu2 word that means 'rain'...whereas Yu3 is the most common phrase for it.

(Xia4 Yu3 also rolls off the tongue somewhat easier than Xia4 Yu2, a consideration in picking a name)

I'm not certain which character Xia4 references, tho. It does mean summer, I believe, but I'm drawing a blank on how the actual ideogram looks. Nevermind.

That said, as tjalorak (one of the DW forum guys) noted, Xia4 Yu3 sounds exactly like the phrase for 'Raining'. A different Xia4, but still.

That doesn't mean a parent wouldn't name their child that, tho, since "pun problems" aren't uncommon with Chinese names...my own name, Yilun, sounds precisely like the Mandarin phrase: "One Wheel". It doesn't mean that, 'course, but for a while some friends called me "Unicycle" (in English).

And I had a classmate named Shi Wang. English-speaking phallic jokes aside, that sounds exactly like "Lost Hope" or "Depressed". He was stuck with various emo nicknames for four years.

Xia4 Yu3... might sound a bit masculine, though, 'cause of the fourth tone on 'Xia'. Makes it a little harsh. Then again, given the words and meaning, that's definitely a girl's name. And naming a kid 'Summer Rain' is a wee bit odd to begin with, so that's prolly not a problem.

I should sit down and think about alternatives.

Can't really speak for Chinese names 2000 years ago, I know nuts about those. If I remember, I'll e-mail someone who studied that sorta thing. I had Chinese Literature-esque classes myself, but I usually spent 'em doodling in the margins, and failing the tests.

[acyl.livejournal.com]

As a side note, when I said "Summer Rain" is a wee bit odd for a name, I didn't mean it was, y'know, totally off or unacceptable or anything...just that it isn't usual.

Most names, in my experience, tend to be...virtues, or somethin', or positive qualities. Abstract stuff. That said, it isn't unheard of to name a kid after flowers or something, so that's fine. In any case, Chinese parents can be just as spaztastic in naming their poor kids as any Western parent, and "Summer Rain" at least has a poetic meaning.

I know someone named "Good Good", which sounds just as silly in Chinese as it does in English.

[edenfalling]

Would cloud related names be more usual? Because those would be fine too; I just need a meteorological reference somewhere in the name.

[acyl.livejournal.com]

Definitely, cloud related names are much more common.

In fact, 'Yun2', the common word for cloud, is a family name.

Audio link to Yun (http://clearchinese.com/audio/pinyin/yun2.aif) , courtesy of a brilliant English/Chinese dictionary site I was pointed at.

Dunno if you'd wanna use it or not, but 's something to think about. =)

[baka-neko.livejournal.com]

Argh, yes, it's the 3rd tone, sorry, not the 2nd. It is rather masculine, and sounds exactly the same as raining, but as you mentioned, a lot of novelists love puns, or have a reason why the name is unusual, such as falling in love during a summer storm or something.

Actual ideogram here: http://chineseculture.about.com/library/symbol/blcc_summer.htm

(I had a colleague whose friend's name meant green pepper in english. and there was a classmate whose chinese name has the same intonation for goat bell.)

[edenfalling]

The 2000 years ago is just to give an idea of when that particular part of the story is set -- any standard boy's name will do, really. What do your examples mean?

[baka-neko.livejournal.com]

Surnames do have their own meaning, much like Smith/Carpenter/Baker, but you don't really play around with them quite as much. I didn't give tones, so it can be written with any characters you like:

Lin: Forest
Zhen: Upright, Suppressed/Composed, Battle
Nan: Man, South

Mix and match and you could probably have Zhen Nan = Upright Man, for example.

Yu Ren Jia:

Yu has no meaning that I'm aware of, though originates from breath.

Ren: Virtue/Benevolent, Endurance
Jia: Good person, honored person

Ping: Even/peaceful
Zhi: Mountain, Order, Aspiration