Monday, July 17, 2006

House M.D. - Nonconformity

Andy from Texas Tech sent in this screen capture from episode 19 of Fox’s drama series, House (or is it “House M.D.”?).


video: windows media 3.95 MB or mirror

Dr. Roger Spain (First Applicant): Wow, I thought you'd be the last person to have a problem with nonconformity.

Dr. Gregory House: Nonconformity; right... I can't remember the last time saw a twenty something kid with a tattoo of an Asian letter on his wrist. You are one wicked free thinker! You want to be a rebel; stop being cool. Wear a pocket protector like he does, and get a hair cut. Like the Asian kids that don't leave the library for a twenty hours stretch. They're the ones that don't care what you think.

Dr. Gregory House: Sayonara

Many places including tattoo shops advertise as "harmony, peace; peaceful, calm". In modern day Chinese, it only means is frequently used to represent "with" or "and".


12 comments:

  1. The title of the show was originally "House M.D." but they officially shortened it to simply "House".

    I saw this episode and laughed laughed laughed ;)

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  2. Haha. And. Enlightening words. And.

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  3. So what does the kid's tattoo mean?

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  4. In Japanese that character means just what the tattoo shops advertise it to be. And the character in that image doesn't look half bad, for once. :-)

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  5. In Japanese it can also mean sum or as a na-adjective as poorly built. :)

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  6. Now, if I wanted to be non-conforming, I would have used 咊 instead of 和.

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  7. Yes, people, 和 is used in Japanese to mean "harmony." It's only the social glue that holds Japan together...

    What I'd like to know is if that little hook on the third stroke was really necessary.

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  8. That's a great quote from House...

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  9. In answer to Triple Lei's question, the little hook is optional:

    http://www.geocities.jp/ki07ji/kanjiichiran-ma.html#wa

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  10. Thanks for the link, anonymous! I always thought those subtle differences were actual concrete differences between 漢字 in Japan and China.

    (at least that's the impression I got from looking at computer fonts!)

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  11. i laughed a stack when i saw that episode too.

    thought he adds something like "but it may have to do with parental pressure" at the end...

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  12. 和 almost always means "and" or "with" in modern Chinese...

    Although, the first thing I thought of when I saw this was 雍和宮.

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