| Change log entry 36580 | |
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| Processed by: | richwarm (2011-06-28 00:10:32 UTC) |
| Comment: |
<< review queue entry 35052 - submitted by 'alanwatson' >> See for example this headline from the Taiwan press about a new law giving consumers rights in financial services transactions: 買基金、連動債… 小蝦 米有保障了 Or this example: 高雄市政府小蝦米商業貸款簡 Overall gets 900k g hits even when restricted to Trad Chinese. Editor: Those "900k g hits" include the likes of 1 感謝怡雯小姐提供小蝦米一隻。 2 當小蝦米遇上大鯨魚 今天見到姚明真的算命、風水、... 3 蒜香小蝦米的做法（海鮮家常菜） etc. ;-) It also includes 小蝦米托米奇晉8強 -- where 小蝦米 refers to someone who is strong enough to get into the finals at Wimbledon! "The dream run of Australian teenager Bernard Tomic at Wimbledon continues after the 18-year-old booked a place in the quarter-finals with a straight-sets dismantling of Belgium's Xavier Malisse." Figuratively, I think 小蝦米 is quite similar to English "shrimp" or "small fry"*, and can mean "someone who is small in stature" (e.g. example 2 above, which accompanies a photo of a normal- size person meeting a basketball player) or "a minor player", and that it may be going too far to say that 小蝦米 implies powerlessness. It's about size and significance, not specifically feebleness, I think. * I particularly mean "small fry" in the sense of: The police did not arrest the drug dealer since he was small fry compared to his boss. These slot machines are just the small fry. The big games are in the back room. |
| Diff: |
# 小蝦米 小虾米 [xiao3 xia1 mi3] /insignificant person/powerless person/ + 小蝦米 小虾米 [xiao3 xia1 mi5] /shrimp/fig. small fry/minor player/ |