Hello, My Name Is @
Two Chinese parents decided to attempt to name their new child “@”, but there has yet to be any official word on whether or not the name will be considered acceptable.
If the couple ever has another child, we're thinking that the name could either be QQ (a popular IM program in Asia) or perhaps simply .com.
If the couple ever has another child, we're thinking that the name could either be QQ (a popular IM program in Asia) or perhaps simply .com.
“The unusual name stands out especially in Chinese, which has no alphabet and instead uses tens of thousands of multi-stroke characters to represent words.
"The whole world uses it to write e-mail, and translated into Chinese it means 'love him'," the father explained, according to the deputy chief of the State Language Commission Li Yuming.
While "@" is familiar to Chinese e-mail users, they often use the English word "at" to sound it out -- which with a drawn out "T" sounds something like "ai ta," or "love him," to Mandarin speakers.”
"The whole world uses it to write e-mail, and translated into Chinese it means 'love him'," the father explained, according to the deputy chief of the State Language Commission Li Yuming.
While "@" is familiar to Chinese e-mail users, they often use the English word "at" to sound it out -- which with a drawn out "T" sounds something like "ai ta," or "love him," to Mandarin speakers.”
To clarify, Chinese (Mandarin) DOES have a form of alphabet, but it's not limited to single characters. It often includes groups of characters to which one of 4 intonations are applied to produce the sound that a single written character would be associated with.
In addition, ta is gender neutral in it's spoken form. It could be referring to a male or female subjet. It isn't until ta is written as a character that the gender becomes clear.
All language matters aside, it could be worse. At least the kid wasn't named l33tn355 or d3\/\/d.
In addition, ta is gender neutral in it's spoken form. It could be referring to a male or female subjet. It isn't until ta is written as a character that the gender becomes clear.
All language matters aside, it could be worse. At least the kid wasn't named l33tn355 or d3\/\/d.
