| Change log entry 81128 | |
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| Processed by: | richwarm (2023-11-30 10:07:23 UTC) |
| Comment: |
<< review queue entry 74510 - submitted by 'kbaiko' >> idiom, and correcting definition https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E5%8D%8A%E8%B7%AF%E5%87%BA%E5%AE%B6 (1) [adopt a profession (trade) rather late in one's life;become a monk or nun late in life]∶年纪大了才脱离家庭去当和尚或尼姑 (2) [start midway]∶比喻原先并不是从事这一工作的,后来才改行从事这一工作 -------------------------------------- Editor: By saying you are "correcting" the definition, you imply that the present definition is incorrect. The only evidence presented is the English glosses at zdic. But zdic's English glosses are known to be not infrequently dodgy. I mean, "start midway", for example seems a pretty inadequate definition of 半路出家. Why should we trust what the other gloss says, that 半路出家 happens "rather late in life"? After all, the *Chinese* definition you quote doesn't mention that the switch occurs late in life -- just that it's not one's original occupation. And the *English* definition "start midway" suggests that the switch is *midway* through one's life rather than in one's old age. Is your correction based purely on zdic's "adopt a profession (trade) rather late in one's life"? Or do you have something else you didn't mention? I'm going to leave the entry unchanged, pending further evidence. In the meantime, here are a couple of examples that suggest that 半路出家 can occur when one is still relatively young. These two men were in their 30s, and moreover, they switched to a job they were not trained for. First example: This guy became a fisherman in his thirties. 「全花蓮港吃這麼多歲才下海，哪伊是頭一個。咱是接下祖公船才會做漁民，像我兒子連我的船是哪一隻都不知道。伊卻是『屁股癢』，自己興趣來，」阿溪想不透在傳統漁業式微的今天，廖鴻基為何年過三十還下海來當討海人。讓人想不透的不只是廖鴻基的半路出家，還包括廖鴻基的個性、經歷，甚至住家環境都讓人覺得他「不像」一個討海人。 "In all of Hualien, he's the first guy I ever heard of who started working on the sea so late in life. I inherited my fishing boat from my father, and now my son can't even recognize it. But Liao had 'ants in his pants'; he took to fishing out of interest." Ah-hsi cannot figure out why today when the traditional fishing industry has dwindled, Liao Hung-chi would go out onto the sea when he was over thirty years old. What befuddles people is not only Liao's mid-life switch; his personality, past experience, and even his home environment make many people think he "just doesn't seem like" a seafarer. The next example relates to a man who studied medical lab science and opened a medical testing lab at the age of 23. At around 30, he became an amateur ethnographer. He was about 50 when the following was written. 「半路出家」的鄧相揚在田野調查、原住民口述歷史領域做得有聲有色，在國中任教的好友王灝戲稱鄧相揚是「埔里田野調查局」。 "Although an amateur in the field of ethnography, Teng is highly regarded in academic circles for his work in recording the oral history of Taiwan's aborigines." * * * I'm sure the definition of 半路出家 can be improved, but I'll wait to see if you follow up on this, like you did with 盎盂相敲, where you provided examples of usage, not just a quote from one dictionary. https://cc-cedict.org/editor/editor.php?log_id=80007&return=ListChanges&handler=ViewLogEntry |
| Diff: |
# - 半路出家 半路出家 [ban4 lu4 chu1 jia1] /switch to a job one was not trained for/ # + 半路出家 半路出家 [ban4 lu4 chu1 jia1] /(idiom) to change one's career late in life/ |