![]() It turns out that in the local language of Taiwan, folk does rearrange this word order, referring to the panda as the "cat bear" (māo xióng), which fits better than the first two names above. In fact, the Chinese names for the Giant Panda have been many and range from "spotted bear" (hua xiong, in pinyin) to "bamboo bear" (zhu xiong) to "large bear cat" (dà xióng māo) to "bear cat" (xióng māo), though the latter two are linguistically misleading since they imply a kind of cat with bear-like features. Since then, "bearcat" (熊猫 xióng māo) became a generally recognized Chinese name for panda. However, the Chinese at that time were used to reading from right to left, so the visitors read “cat bear” as “bearcat”. Its name was written in the international format, labeled Chinese and Latin respectively. In 1939, there was an exhibition of animal specimens at Chongqing Pingming Zoo, of which the “cat bear” attracted the attention of the audience. ![]() So some people believed it belongs to the bear family. "Nobody does smileys any more.In China, the original name of the giant panda was “cat bear” or “big cat bear”, for the reason that its face is as plump as a cat, but the whole body is like a bear. "Why do they still have all these keys with things like dots and spots and eyes and mouths and things?" they will grumble. I've just spotted a third reason to loathe emoticons, which is that when they pass from fashion (and I do hope they already have), future generations will associate punctuation marks with an outmoded and rather primitive graphic pastime and despise them all the more. It looks like it's sticking its tongue out! The permutations may be endless: What's this curvy thing for? It's a mouth, look! Hey, I think we're on to something. What's this dot-on-top-of-a-dot thing for? What earthly good is it? Well, if you look at it sideways, it could be a pair of eyes. Anyone interested in punctuation has a dual reason to feel aggrieved about smileys, because not only are they a paltry substitute for expressing oneself properly they are also designed by people who evidently thought the punctuation marks on the standard keyboard cried out for an ornamental function. ![]() Just add the right emoticon to your email and everyone will know what self-expressive effect you thought you kind-of had in mind. And a smiley is, famously, this:įorget the idea of selecting the right words in the right order and channelling the reader's attention by means of artful pointing. Emoticons are the proper name for smileys. That's why they came up with the emoticon, too-the emoticon being the greatest (or most desperate, depending how you look at it) advance in punctuation since the question mark in the reign of Charlemagne. Which is why, of course, people use so many dashes and italics and capitals ("I AM joking!") to compensate. ![]() “Clicking on "send" has its limitations as a system of subtle communication. ![]()
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