Nik Nak’s Daily Teaser — 20-4-2018: Chinoiserie

20th April, 2018.

Yes: it’s official.

I grant I’ve got money troubles.

Believe it or not, some of the deductions, I’m getting means I’m thinking the job’s looking … uneconomic, at the moment.

But … ?

I’ve STILL got a pile of box sets to go through: built up over a collection of a couple of years.

And managed to start catching up with American Horror Show’s fifth series: watching the first episode last night..

OK, they’ve not got Jessica Lange in this one.

But Lady Gaga seems surprisingly competent.

And Sarah Paulson’s hair is GRUESOME!

~≈§≈~

Let’s move on, shall we?

Yesterday’s Teaser saw Olga* and Debbi† putting in their answers: with both scoring five out of five.

Let’s see how everyone does with today’s questions, shall we?

Here they are, along with the How To, License and video …

Q1) 20th April is UN Chinese Language Day.   How many character sets does Chinese have: one or two?

Q2) Name one of those two sets.   (Just ONE of those two sets.)

Q3) Chinese can also be written in pinyin.   In other words, in what?

Q4) Kanji are Chinese letters used in which language?

Q5) Finally … ?   Chinese letters are made up of anything up to how many strokes: eight, nine or ten?

Here’s yesterday’s questions and answers …

Q1) The first space station was launched: on 19th April.   What was it called?
A1) Salyut 1.

Q2) In which year?
A2) 1971.

Q3) By whom: the USSR, USA or the People’s Republic of China?
A3) The USSR.

Q4) How many successful launches were made in this space station programme: 6, 8 or 10?
A4) 6.

Q5) Finally … ?   The only manned mission to this station was on what: Soyuz 10, 11 or 12?
A5) Soyuz 11.

Here’s a thought …

“The longer a language lives, the richer, more diverse and refined it becomes. What happened to Chinese will take place in younger languages in their own time and in their unique and native forms.”
Sharron Gu, A Cultural History of the Chinese Language, 2011.

And a song …

Today’s questions will be answered in tomorrow’s Teaser.


Have a good day.

*        Yeah: we’ve got a few road works around town, Olga: I think the upcoming May Day bank holiday’s going to see more.   (I always used to joke that some of the road works are fake.   They’re done by a really ODD modern artist, making a big push for the Turner prize.)

†        Yeah: I THINK I’ll have to pencil one in, once I’ve finished with this series of American Horror Show, Debbi.   Although I THINK I know where they’ve got the carpet for this series.   I’m expecting Jack Nicholson to turn up … (Speaking as a barman with a decade and a half’s experience?   Jack Nicholson is a very convincing drunk …)