Saturday, March 8, 2025

Roaring Iron - fancy coat names from the 19th century Cat Garden

 black cat hissing at rat hiding behind stove with wok on it

Mao Yuan (The Cat Garden) is a 19th century compendium of contemporary cat lore and cat literature from antiquity. It was compiled around 1852-1853 by Huang Han, a native of Wenzhou. Enjoy selections from the Cat Garden and other works of late Imperial Chinese cat lore here.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

A seal is a "sea dog"

Learn Hebrew noun conjugations using the word "kelev" (dog) as an example in the children's book. Kelev and Kalba: כֶּלֶב וְכַּלְבָּה.
The Hebrew term for "seal" is "sea dog" ("kelev yam"). Other languages also refer to various members of the pinniped clade as "sea dog". In Chinese, "sea dog" ("hai gou") refers to fur seals. In  German, "sea dog" ("seehund") refers to harbor seals. In Dutch, "sea dog" ("zeehond") refers to  earless seals (true seals).