Eve Kushner's Blog

• Onward

  May 3, 2010

  • Today I have a mix of news: the good, the bad, and the ugly.   The Good I was on the radio again this week, talking about some unusual Japanese terms. Ever since Patrick Cox interviewed me on “The World in Words” in the fall of 2008, I’ve been sending him amusingly specific Japanese expressions. He likes things like that; in a segment called “Eating Sideways,” he presents ...
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• A Murder Mystery and More! Part 3

  April 16, 2010

  • Today we’ll do things backward. Try your hand at a bevy of quizzes, all involving 刺 (SHI, sa(su), sa(saru), sa(shi), sashi, toge: to stab, pierce, prick, sting; thorn; business card), a kanji we’ve examined over the past few weeks. In the answer notes, you’ll find sample sentences. In other words, dessert first and salad later.   Quiz 1: Homophonic Murder Mystery This murder ...
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• Interspecies Stabbings: Part 2

  April 9, 2010

  • As we saw last week, 刺 (SHI, sa(su), sa(saru), sa(shi), sashi, toge: to stab, pierce, prick, sting; thorn; business card) primarily means “to stab,” so it plays a role in many brutal words. Examining this kanji, you can quickly have your fill of stabbings, puncture wounds, and the like: 刺し傷 (sashikizu: a stab; puncture wound)     to stab + wound Sample Sentence with ...
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