Spelling with Chinese character(istic)s, pt. 4
The last installment of this series, "Spelling with Chinese character(istic)s, pt. 3" (6/30/16), contains links to many other Language Log posts relevant to this subject.
It is often difficult to fathom which English word is intended when it is transcribed in Chinese characters. John Kieschnick called my attention to an especially challenging one: ěrlílìjǐng 爾釐利景. Before going on to the next page and before googling it, try to figure out what it is meant to "spell". Scout's honor! No peeking!
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