![\"\"](\"http:\/\/akikolingoland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/mashang-you-yiqie-02.jpg\")
<\/p>\nToday is the first day of Chinese New Year. May you have an eggplant on the horse!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This is indeed a weird New Year greeting. Well, it\u2019s actually part of a series of trending CNY greetings this year, which all start with “\u9a6c\u4e0a” (m\u01cesh\u00e0ng) which literally means ‘on the horse’. This is the year of the horse, and if you\u2019ve learnt a bit of Mandarin, you might have gotten the gist of the meaning.<\/p>\n
Yup, “m\u01cesh\u00e0ng” means \u2018right away\u2019, and when we wish someone “m\u01cesh\u00e0ng XXX”, we mean to wish them to have something\/ accomplish something right away.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s have a look at these other adorable horses.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/akikolingoland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/mashang-you-series.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
First we have “\u9a6c\u4e0a\u6709\u94b1” (m\u01cesh\u00e0ng y\u01d2u qi\u00e1n)\u2015
\n\u6709 y\u01d2u: to have
\n\u94b1 qi\u00e1n: money
\n\u9a6c\u4e0a\u6709\u94b1 m\u01cesh\u00e0ng y\u01d2u qi\u00e1n: to have money right away<\/p>\n
Then we have “\u9a6c\u4e0a\u6709\u5bf9\u8c61” (m\u01cesh\u00e0ng y\u01d2u du\u00ecxi\u00e0ng)\u2015
\n\u5bf9\u8c61 du\u00ecxi\u00e0ng: boyfriend\/ girlfriend
\n\u9a6c\u4e0a\u6709\u5bf9\u8c61 m\u01cesh\u00e0ng y\u01d2u du\u00ecxi\u00e0ng: to have a boyfriend\/ girlfriend right away<\/p>\n
Next is “\u9a6c\u4e0a\u6709\u8f66” (m\u01cesh\u00e0ng y\u01d2u ch\u0113)\u2015
\n\u8f66 ch\u0113: car
\n\u9a6c\u4e0a\u6709\u8f66 m\u01cesh\u00e0ng y\u01d2u ch\u0113: to have a car right away<\/p>\n
And finally “\u9a6c\u4e0a\u653e\u5047” (m\u01cesh\u00e0ng fang ji\u00e0)\u2015
\n\u653e\u5047 fang ji\u00e0: to have a holiday
\n\u9a6c\u4e0a\u653e\u5047 m\u01cesh\u00e0ng fang ji\u00e0: to have a holiday right away<\/p>\n
All these horses are wonderful, aren\u2019t they? But probably not as awesome as the eggplant horse.<\/p>\n
The first picture on top says “\u9a6c\u4e0a\u6709\u4e00\u8304” (m\u01cesh\u00e0ng y\u01d2u y\u00ec qi\u00e9). “\u4e00\u8304” (y\u00ec qi\u00e9) literally means one eggplant. It differs only in tone from “\u4e00\u5207” (y\u00edqi\u00e8) which means everything. So the whole phrase put together means, to have everything right way. (Beware of the tones of “y\u00ec qi\u00e9” and “y\u00edqi\u00e8”!)<\/span><\/p>\n To begin with, the term “m\u01cesh\u00e0ng” isn\u2019t difficult to remember. Well, maybe the pronunciation might take some time, but you can easily recall it if you know both ‘horse’ and ‘on top of\/above\/on’. Now that we have these horses, it should be even easier! So, did you m\u01cesh\u00e0ng<\/em> remember the term for right away<\/em>?<\/p>\n Before I go, let me wish you \u9a6c\u5e74\u884c\u5927\u8fd0 (m\u01ce ni\u00e1n x\u00edng d\u00e0 y\u00f9n: have wonderful luck in the year of the horse), \u9a6c\u4e0a\u6709\u4e00\u5207 (m\u01cesh\u00e0ng y\u01d2u y\u00edqi\u00e8: have everything all at once)!<\/p>\n (Click here <\/a>for more CNY expressions.) Today is the first day of Chinese New Year. May you have an eggplant on the horse! This is indeed a weird New Year greeting. Well, it\u2019s actually part of a series of trending CNY greetings this...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[293,78,79,82,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-culture","category-greetings","category-mandarin","category-useful-phrases"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
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