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Re: The pitfall of Chinese/Mandarin

From:Anton Sherwood <bronto@...>
Date:Saturday, December 8, 2001, 21:32
Patrick Dunn wrote:
> People in the United States do memorize the periodic table > of elements. Protracted use of the thing will pound it > into your head with or without it being in Chinese.
Still, it is inelegant that some of the elements have etymologically inappropriate names. To call the lightest element `hydrogen', for example, is oxygen chauvinism! So anyway, what do the Chinese names of the elements mean?
> How old are you, anyway? If you don't mind my asking.
Old enough to have a son (Lu Su) with his own mailbox. -- Anton Sherwood -- http://www.ogre.nu/