{"id":63287,"date":"2024-04-02T07:54:08","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T12:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=63287"},"modified":"2024-04-02T16:45:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T21:45:22","slug":"dangerous-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=63287","title":{"rendered":"Dangerous opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lord knows we've encountered many bizarre translations and explanations of the much maligned Mandarin term, weiji<\/i> (see \"Selected readings\") below, <\/span><\/span><\/span>but this is one of the weirdest cross<\/span><\/span><\/span>lingual<\/span><\/span><\/span> definitions that has ever come to my attention:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Suicide is usually an attempt to deal with a crisis.\u00a0 The Chinese character for \"crisis\" translates into \"dangerous opportunity.\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Suicide is a permanent solution, and eliminates other options.\u00a0 So if you're hurting so much that you are willing to pass the pain on to those who care, perhaps you could use this dangerous opportunity to try some other options first.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

(Source:\u00a0 Hannah Zeavin, The Distance Cure:\u00a0 A History of Teletherapy <\/i>(Cambridge: MIT Press, 2021), ch. 5, p. 178)
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Language Log readers are well aware of the perils attendant upon the English misunderstandings of\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>w\u00e9ij\u012b \u5371\u6a5f \/ <\/span><\/span><\/span>\u5371\u673a (\"crisis\").\u00a0 We've been writing about them almost as long as LL has existed.\u00a0 I realize that \"Dr. Ezra\", who wrote that paragraph for the Cornell community, was well-intentioned, but they committed at least two offenses against linguistics that vitiate their advice.\u00a0 Namely, <\/span><\/span><\/span>w\u00e9ij\u012b \u5371\u6a5f \/ <\/span><\/span><\/span>\u5371\u673a consists of two characters \/ syllables, not one, and it should be translated as \"crisis\", not <\/span><\/span><\/span>\"dangerous opportunity\" (I wonder what genuine psychotherapists would make of that).
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Addendum<\/strong>\u00a0(from anon. [see below])<\/p>\r\n

This whole message is auto-generated by machines supposed to offer distant mental therapy. So not a real doctor.<\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/div>\r\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n