The Designer Monologues: Idioms and expressions

On smoggy days, when I am searching for things to do, I often use online painting applications to create images. You could say I am the "designer in China"...sorry, I just like things that rhyme. 
I have never really displayed strong artistic skills but I did enjoy making cartoons and comics as a child. Now I tend to focus on creating images and text that display idioms, vocabulary and slang that I have learned when studying Vietnamese or Chinese. Drawing and displaying interesting language is fun and helps me to remember the things I have experienced in Hanoi and Beijing. Some of the images I make have been used on this blog. Others I have printed onto T-shirts or mugs. I wanted to explain some of those images in this blog post:

This design is based on the Vietnamese expression "Không Sao Đâu" which means "never mind" or "no problem". But when you translate each word individually; "Không" means no, "Sao" means star and "Đâu" means where. Some of the younger generation of Vietnamese therefore use this translated version. So for example, if you arrived late to a meeting with your friend and you apologised profusely, they could reply with "no star where".

"Buồn Như Con Chuồn Chuồn" is an expression that means to be "as sad as a dragonfly". I don't think dragonflies are a particularly miserable insect, however the word "buồn" meaning sad does kind of rhyme with "Chuồn Chuồn" which means dragonfly, so I guess that's the basis of this idiom. 

"Chán như con gián" means to be as "bored as a cockroach". Again, the Vietnamese language uses an insect for an idiom to describe a negative feeling - poor minibeasts! I have seen some of my friends on Facebook using this expression as a status. I got this design printed on a T-Shirt and took it to Vietnam on my last visit. It definitely got some smiles from the people in Hanoi and some locals even came up to me and asked about where I bought it.

"Khỏe như trâu" means to be as strong or as healthy as a buffalo. So if you are feeling on top of your game then you can use this expression!

"Biết Chết Liền" translated literally means "Know die immediately". It's true meaning is: if I knew that, I would drop down dead. I guess it's not too dissimilar from the English expression "I'll be damned if I know!". So for example, if you were visiting Vietnam and were met with the usual barrage of questions:

"When will you get married?"
"When will you come to Vietnam again?"

"What is the meaning of life?" (Actually I haven't been asked that yet unfortunately).

You could choose to answer with "Biết chết liền".

This is the first Chinese design that I made. It translates to "Did you know this is how rainbows are made?"
The sentence includes a character that was introduced to me by a friend. The character “造” (zào )is used in place of “知道” (zhīdào) which means "to know". When spoken quickly, zhīdào can sound similar to zào. Apparently it is common in Taiwan to substitute “知道” with “造”.

For a while, I was joking with my friend Liz that I would open up my own café in Beijing and sell tasty treats that I missed from back home, like Welsh cakes and scones. Liz absolutely loves pugs and so for a Christmas gift, I decided to draw a pug and create a "pug mug". I decided that I would add "Crimmy's Café" as it's only a matter of time before I create a rival for Mr. Starbucks.  I was quite pleased with the result and so I ordered one for myself too. I will only need a couple more before I can open up that café!

This is the first design I did in both Vietnamese and Chinese. It is based on the game of "Paper Scissors Stone" or "Rock Paper Scissors" (depending on where you're from!). 

I really like how it is a universal game - I remember travelling to Guilin and playing this game with some of the local children. They were amazed that a foreigner could interact with them. So I came up with this design which translates to "The real story of paper scissors stone". The smug stone would clearly always come away unscathed if such a battle were to really happen, so in the drawing the stone suggests "Let's play one more round" resulting in an awkward silence coming from his battered opponents. 

There are two ways to say pig in Vietnamese. One is "lợn", the other is "heo". I first noticed this expression back in the days when Myspace and Yahoo360 were used as popular social media networks. It is a take on the phrase "What the hell?!". The word hell is replaced with heo as they sound rather similar. This expression is used in similar instances of surprise or shock. So when you are feeling astonished by something, you can utter the words "What the heo?!"

I will definitely continue to create different designs as I find it relaxing and a fun activity - particularly if I am stuck indoors due to high pollution. The designs that I have made can be printed on T-Shirts or mugs and found at the following website:

http://vinamike.spreadshirt.co.uk