TV & Slang: Densha or Otaku?

More than once I mentioned the now in-and-chic term "Densha (otoko)" in my recent lessons, and as response I got a whole lot of stiff, puzzled faces. I am not surprised as most Hongkongers understand the term in Chinese rather than in Japanese.

The term originated from a once-super-hot TV drama, starred by Itō Atsushi as Tsuyoshi Yamada, aka (also known as) "Densha (otoko)" or "Train Man" in English, and Ito Misaki as Saori Aoyama, aka Hermès over the internet.

The story began with the protagonist, Yamada the typical otaku (a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga, and video games.), not-so-heroically saving the stunningly elegant and gorgeous Saori from the harassment of a drunken mid-age man on a train. In order to show her appreciation to his bravery and chivalry, model-figured Saori asked for the address of the vertically-challenged Yamada so that she could send him a gift of thanks. Soon Yamada received a set of fine China from Hermès and he shared his incidence over the internet, naming the anonymous girl as Hermès over the internet forum namely '2channel', which was also the place he got his nickname "Densha" from.

The story told the common lifestyle of a group of computer & manga maniacs (or "geeks" in slang) such as how they live their life in the virtual world in contrast to how they are disgusted and isolated by the females in reality. In the drama, the otaku begged for true human love, despite the fact that they enjoyed the company of their virtual dream girls and are proud of who they are.

So, strictly speaking, we should be using the word 'otaku' just as the Japanese do in describing this group of computer & manga lovers, and not using the word 'Densha', as Yamada became Densha after saving the girl and this is missing from the usual otaku. Thus this is what I am suggesting:

Otaku + saving a girl on the train = Densha

It really bugs me when I hear people using Densha without knowing the true origin.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Densha_Otoko_(drama)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otaku

Picture source:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqU1CR1iRw6x5LJN0GlHtOGHOqKHn9Gv0HiaOvYSxLvAGFEGPyO-XruzSSU4tYkNmV5IRyjz0dayMAdv7b-WtXaSkGunXE-2x25361w8JcHdsbUImJ5A8Jcgk05w0wgVxza6N-wH-QGLg3/s400/Densha-Otoko-lgosdfwer4.jpg

http://www.nanoda.com/public/reviews-images/densha-otoko-5-big.jpg

Health and Fitness: Chiropractor

If I wasn't injured by the "massage specialist" in Zhuhai, I wouldn't have visited this brilliant chiropractor.

Recommended by my girlfriend, I never really believed him in the past, but after this incident, now I strongly do. His spinal manipulation (or spinal adjustment / chiropractic

adjustment) skills are razor-sharp! He also did some acupuncture for me but maybe I was feeling too painful at that time, so I couldn't feel much better until the spinal adjustment was done.

Anyway, I shouldn't boast him too much. If you needed help, you can pay him a visit.

Image from squidoocdn

Chan Vai Kun

Registered Chinese Medicine Practitioner (General Practice)

The Chinese-Medicine Council of Hong Kong No.004141

Falt D. 5/F, Jade Garden No. 9, Pak Shing Street, Tai Po, N.T. (near Tai Wo MTR station)

Phone: 94392505

What the Zhuhai "massage specialist" did to me was twisted my skull in a split of second, after a bit of research, I discovered that the problem I was suffering from was called vertebral subluxation, normally known as vertebral joint misalignment, which "caused pinched nervers in the intervertebral spaces in favour of subluxations causing altered nerve vibration, either too tense or too slack, affecting the tone(health) of the end organ." As for my case, what I do know is my back muscles were too tense that it contracts with spasm even though my body wasn't moving, and what I didn't know was that it could lead to damages of the end organ. Lucky that I got it fixed so soon! Touch wood (also Knock on wood)!

Disclaimer:

I don't earn any commission for recommending him and consult him at your own risk.

Technology: Which Intel Processor should I choose?

A day before the Easter holiday, my old computer was busted. Similar things always happen when I have too much time, or at least when something thinks I have too much time. Life is just simply amazing! How would anything knows that I have time? They are non-living! They have no feelings! As far as I can recall, the last 2 holidays I have fixed my old computer two times.

The first time was due to the fact that I was too clever and went to create a removable hard disk of my own, using a non-removable hard disk by pulling the SATA wire out of the case and having the hard disk placed on the floor instead of mounting it inside the steel casing. As a result, it couldn’t transfer the static electricity and blew itself up which cost me another $400+ to get a replacement and the valuable data inside. The lesson learnt was:

“Never put your hard disk on the floor without mounting it to metal casing.”

The second time was due to the clash of video card driver because I went to update the driver from the official website. Bad move! The installation of new nVIDIA drivers led to a clash with old ATI drivers and I had to buy a new outdated video card in order to invoke the display again and roll back the driver. Ka-ching! $500+. The lesson learnt was:

“Don’t ever install drivers before removing the old one.”

Despite the two unfortunate cases, I managed to extend the life of my old computer for about a year, until it finally reached the end of the road on the 9th Apil.

Since I have invested quite a bit on the spare parts, and I guess only the motherboard has problems, I have to buy a new computer in order to save the spare parts (stupid isn't it?), so I have ridden a tiger and I am afraid to dismount.

After going to Wan Chai Computer Centre to get my new computer this afternoon, I returned home to check out my collection of warrantee cards and receipts. I then found out that my old computer has been with me since 5th August 2004. I have never expected it to have lasted so long and have never thought I would be getting a new one to replace it so soon. It was still working very well before the Easter holidays. Reading through the warrantee cards both impressed me with the long life span of this computer and saddened me because it eventually has to leave (partly, because I will keep the parts for reuse). This is exactly the meaning for the word 'nostalgia".

I also found out that my computer in use was bought on the 28th June 2008, so it is almost one year old, but the technology has changed so much in less than a year’s time! If times flies when you are having fun, technology must be travelling at a speed of light. This one-year-old is Intel Dual-Core E2180 (2 GHz, 1024 kb L2-Cache, socket LGA 775), but the one I went to buy is already Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 (2.8 GHz, 3 Mb L2-Cache, socket LGA 775). Last time, the configuration cost me $3580 (+ $400 on an extra display card), and this time $4270, but already much much faster and better.

It does make me feel kind of stupid to buy a new one when I already have a good one, but if I don’t buy a new one, I can’t possibly play any DVDs on the TV (The old computer was meant to be an entertainment centre, for the sake of playing DVDs, VCDs, songs and other videos, it replaces all traditional VCD and DVD players) and take out the data from my old computer again.

Sigh……

Anyway, when you have to spend, you have to spend. I guess life knows well why I can never save up my money.

Updating my computer hardware knowledge once in a while may be a good thing, and I won’t do it unless I have to buy a new one.

There are many reviews on the internet, but this is the best, most comprehensive and most detailed. The tests are the most thorough.

Author Carl Nelson rocks!

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-368-1.htm

Coming soon: A lot more will come very soon because I have not been writing hard enough.

Reply to comments & readers: None.

Learning Method: IPA Dephonetisation & Asphonetisation

IPA made easy

(Lucky I still have something I wrote before the Easter Holidays. This is it!)

There is a saying, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap". This is all so true for everything you do in life, no matter you are trying to cook a delicious meal or learn up new vocabulary.

Luckily, there are sometimes short-cuts to learn something and I'm going to share with you my secrets of learning IPA.

Some of you might have heard me teaching this in the class already, but I would like to share with everybody here again, just in case I missed talking about it in class (so ask more questions and you will learn more).

The steps of learning IPA are actually pretty simple.

First, you need to learn how to write the alphabets.

Then, you need to remember one most simple example.

Eg. 'at' /æt/ and 'up' /ʌp/

Next, all you need to do is to apply a method that I invented, called 'Method of Dephonetisation', and that is simply to delete the non-relevant sound from the word and you will get the sound of the IPA.

The advantage of this method is, you don't need to remember the sounds of each IPA by itself, but you have a better reference from an example.

Since you can dephonetise a word, you can of course asphonetise it to form a larger word using 'Method of Asphonetisation'.

Many learners in Hong Kong can't say the word 'cat' properly. Now with the method of phonetisation, from 'at' to 'cat', all you need to do is to add a /k/ sound in front, thus /kæt/.

Now, let's try some examples:

What is the difference between 'bread' and 'brad'?

Bread /bred/ Brad /bræd/

Now, how do we pronounce them? For 'bread', because we can see the IPA /bred/ having 'red' /red/ inside, so all we need to do is /b/ + /red/.

For 'Brad', because the IPA /bræd/ has 'rad' /ræd/ inside, so all we need to do is /b/ + /ræd/.

If you are not comfortable with 'rad', you can trying the following step by step:

1. start with 'at' /æt/, dephonetise /t/ => /æ/
2. asphonetise /æ/ + /d/ => /æd/
   
3. asphonetise /r/ + /æd/ => /ræd/
   
4. asphonetise /b/ + /ræd/ => /bræd/
   

You can use these methods and expand to long words and still get perfect pronunciations. The key is just not to lose your sound in every step.

Enjoy your IPA!

To type IPA on your websites:

http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/bylanguage/ipachart.html

Coming soon: ...... Wait until I recover first......

Reply to comments & readers:

1. Thanks for all your caring messages!

Message: Absent from work one more day

Today, I went to see a Chinese physician in Tai Wo and he helped me twisted my skull back in place, after he twisted 6 times, I am practically pain-freed. Now, I still feel a bit of pain in the neck and I can't do any large movements yet, including walking a little faster, so I guess I will have to take one more day rest in bed.

So, sorry to both my Thursday and Friday classes. I'll be back next week.

Thanks for your care and concerns!

Hope you are still learning English at home without me.

Message: Absent from work

Dear all,

I will be absent tonight because I am suffering from a serious neck+back injury. So sorry for that. I tried to teach yesterday but it got very serious.

Should be able to see you next week.

If Prime doesn't call you, then there will be a supply teacher.

Cheers!
Locky