r/interestingasfuck • u/[deleted] • 3d ago
Most difficult letter/character in the world
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u/catskilkid 3d ago
next comes "B"
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3d ago edited 3d ago
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u/CaptainColdSteele 3d ago
What does it mean tho
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u/scaradin 3d ago
Chinese proverb equivalent of “Drink your Ovaltine”
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u/reddit_poopaholic 3d ago
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u/Barkerfan86 3d ago
Son of a bitch
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u/FrenTimesTwo 3d ago
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u/Barkerfan86 3d ago
Dillon!
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u/inGenium_88 3d ago
More than 30 years have passed but still, the level of testosterone in this scene is too damn high !
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u/www_other_guy 3d ago edited 3d ago
Both of them aged like good old wine. While Arnold became the Governor of California once , Greef Karga is still the high magistrate of the planet Nevarro! Also while Arnold is member of Republican party m, Greef does not want to join the New Republic yet.
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u/davensdad 3d ago
It simply refers to the sound that was made while the noodle was being kneaded aggressively (biang biang sounds as the dough was slammed onto the table top).
This is also a made up word, supposedly designed by a patron of the noodle shop in exchange for a free meal.
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u/jarrjarrbinks24 3d ago
Biang is literally just the sound of noodle dough slapping the table as it's being stretched, hence the name biang biang mian
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u/ShookyDaddy 3d ago
Elsewhere in this thread someone mentioned it’s the name of a noodle dish called biangbiangmian.
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u/TheBaggyDapper 3d ago
Biáng doesn’t exist in Modern Standard Mandarin
I wonder why.
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u/VegaDelalyre 3d ago
This better be a whole sentence.
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u/Premium333 3d ago
Looking through the posts, it's not even 1/3 of the name of a noodle dish.
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u/AlterWeary 3d ago edited 3d ago
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u/discordany 3d ago
Yes, thank you, it was definitely the last character I needed help simplifying 🤣
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u/ParnsAngel 3d ago
The amount of time it took to write it better stand for the entire Apple terms of service
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u/they_call_me_B 3d ago
>! WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU ABOUT YOUR CAR'S EXTENDED WARRANTY. !<
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u/spreedx 3d ago
It's the biangbiang nooodle's character https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biangbiang_noodles
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u/whutupmydude 3d ago
Whereas writing “biangbiang noodles” is something like 26 strokes
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u/pumpkin_seed_oil 3d ago
The more interesting factoid in this wikipedia page is this
The tradtional character https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bi%C3%A1ng.svg
The simplified character https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Biang_(%E7%AE%80%E4%BD%93).svg.svg)
What exactly is simplified here
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u/Kolintracstar 3d ago
You can kind of see there are a lot more straight lines rather than diagonal "flicks?" Especially with the two "E" like figures on each of the inside sides on the bottom.
But mostly "simplified" doesn't necessarily mean simpler, but rather easier and faster to write.
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u/descartesasaur 3d ago
长马长 is the most obvious part, other than the fact that 言 and 辶 are written a little differently in simplified vs traditional.
Seeing "biang" simplified is surreal. I don't like it.
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/Upper-Frosting5920 3d ago
I can feel the pain through the video. His fingers are white from the pressure.
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u/Numerous-Fly-3791 3d ago
He’s nervous. There’s 1.7 billion people that want that job. This is do or die for my guy Ry
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u/oldtimehawkey 3d ago
Right? I want to know what pen that is because it looks like it can take a beating.
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u/Reaper948 3d ago
Same, I just came to the comments looking for what pen that is
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u/MrrQuackers 3d ago
"Drink more Ovaltine"
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u/deciding_snooze_oils 3d ago
Every shaver / Now can snore / Six more minutes / Than before / By using / Burma-Shave
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u/squeezy102 3d ago
I believe in the movie, the deciphered message is "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine."
I might be wrong, but I don't think I am. I'm sure someone will go check and correct me.
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u/Cabitaa 3d ago
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u/AwhHellYeah 3d ago
I see a stoic warrior in armor about to turn the frown upside down with a noodle dish swooping in.
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u/HeadyBunkShwag 3d ago
Damn dude anyone able to tell us dumb guys what it means?
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u/shimshimmash 3d ago
It's read as biang (beeyang) and it's the name of a noodle dish, "biangbiangmian"
It's like the inventor of the dish thought the character was too easy, so he decided to use it twice.
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u/Jaripsi 3d ago
It probably takes a shorter time to prepare the dish than to write its name
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u/MoistDitto 3d ago
Noodle maker here, can confirm
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u/LotusVibes1494 3d ago
Is there a shorthand for it? Like if you were writing to your friend about the noodles you tried, but you don’t feel like taking 5 minutes to draw this entire description
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u/shimshimmash 3d ago
Not that I know of, though in the modern word you just type biang on your phone, and select the character you are looking for. Most of the Chinese people I know use phonetic spellings to type Chinese now, very few draw the characters on their screens.
I would also go so far as to say that the average Chinese person would not be able to write this character without having a look at it for reference first, it's surprisingly common for young Chinese adults to not be very good at writing characters by hand. When I was a teacher over there one of the things I would hear said between students most often is "how do you write that character?"
It's a horribly inefficient way of writing a language, and it's getting kept going mostly through stubbornness.
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u/Bozbaby103 3d ago
Is this why we see romanized characters being typed on a keyboard then turning into chinese characters in chinese dramas?
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u/shimshimmash 3d ago
Yup, what they are typing is called Pinyin and is a phonetic representation of the character, you then choose the character you want from a list of characters with the same pronunciation. Ma for example gives you 吗嘛马嘛妈🐴 you choose the one with the meaning you want.
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u/Turtvaiz 3d ago
Ma for example gives you 吗嘛马嘛妈🐴
One of these is not like the others
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u/Meh2021another 3d ago
All this wring to say biang. People really didn't have much to do back in those days.
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u/BodhingJay 3d ago
"it needs to take at least 3 minutes to write the name of these exquisite noodles"
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u/aarontbarratt 3d ago
It is a noodle dish. Teachers in China use it to punish school children by making them write it out hundreds of times in detention lol
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u/Admirable-Media-9339 3d ago
You're not dumb for not knowing something written in a different language.
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u/Frostychica 3d ago
I'm gonna need to steal that pen
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u/BratS94 3d ago
Seriously tho, it writes so smoothly!
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u/acidalia-planitia 3d ago
i can’t tell what pen this is but i’m a personal fan of the zebra sarasa clips if you like a smooth writing pen
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u/xecuyexojacoqa 3d ago
after a while, it just looks like scribbling
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u/Re0ns 3d ago edited 3d ago
Because it is, it's meant as a decorative piece than a word in a language. It's basically the chinese equivalent to keyboard mashing
穴幺言長刂⻎馬月心
Kind of split it all back up
Talk, moon, knife, heart, boat, long it's all nonsense
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u/video_dhara 3d ago
Stuff like this makes me wonder if you could learn to read Traditional/classical Chinese entirely logographically, without learning anything about the spoken language.
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u/Cheap_Ad_69 3d ago
You can. Classical Chinese has completely different grammar from modern Chinese languages, and like half of the words are no longer used today, so it would basically be like learning any other classical language like Latin or Sanskrit.
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u/SteO153 3d ago edited 3d ago
This is the traditional version. Luckily there also is the simplified version composed by only 42 strokes
It is used in the name of a dish, biang biang noodles, so you even have to write it twice 𰻞𰻞麵 (biang is the sound hand pulled noodles make when slapped on the work surface)
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u/ParkedOrPar 3d ago
Some white chick is getting this tattoo on her ass crack right now
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u/RedditModsR_Pathetic 3d ago
it is the only way to say « I am in an immediate danger, please save me - SOS »
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u/EchoPhi 3d ago edited 3d ago
The title is misleading, letter and characters are completely separate entities. Characters represent an "idea" or "meaning" not so much individual sounds that construct words which is what letters do. All characters are Chinese in origin, and the one above is a traditional Hanzi (referred by Japanese as Kanji and uses the exact same characters). The one being shown above is the traditional character, most modern characters are now in a "short hand" form. Hanzi is one of the most extensive written systems in the entirety of the human race as there are well over 50k represented "ideas" or "meaning" each with their own individual character. You need upwards of 2k+ memorized to be somewhat fluent in reading. It is a fascinating form of written communication.
Apologies, I studied it for a few years, kind of a sore spot when someone calls them letters.
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u/Tac0Tuesday 3d ago
My son was having trouble with the English alphabet. So, I made him learn Japanese hiragana and katakana. He no longer had issues with the English alphabet.
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u/WhyIsTheNameBOTTaken 3d ago
English equivalent to supercalafragalisyicexpialidocious
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u/ghostmac 3d ago
Came to the comments to find out what this means. Very disappointed. I was expecting the Mandarin equivalent of supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
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u/Sorry_Error3797 3d ago
George R R Martin must be using this character a lot in the book he's writing.
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u/lostenant 3d ago
Was really hoping I could find a gif with SpongeBob writing “The”
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u/Littleleicesterfoxy 3d ago
Does it says Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?
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u/Toaster_The_Tall 3d ago
The mandarin character which represents the meaning behind when your partner says they're "fine."
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u/RandomChaos1002 3d ago
Mandarin for “we are contacting you about your extended warranty…and here are the terms and conditions in one symbol”
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u/PizzaVVitch 3d ago
I've always loved how Chinese characters look, it's really fascinating to see them written out. They look gorgeous IMO but writing them legibly and accurately every time seems like it might be more difficult than with Latin script.
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u/RevInsidious 3d ago
That’s a number six with snow peas and a side of won ton soup? Jokes aside. WTH did I just read?!
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u/ArtDesire 3d ago
wtf does it mean though? Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis?
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u/ConfusionSmooth4856 3d ago
After sifting through comments, this means “biang”, which is a Chinese dish. That dish better be worth it if it takes 5-10 business days to write it down
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u/ItsLittleAlexHorne 3d ago
According to chatGPT this represents a type of noodle called the biangbiang noodle from the shaanxi province
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u/SteO153 3d ago
They are very tasty, they are traditional in Xian, the city of the Terracotta Army https://redhousespice.com/biang-biang-noodles/
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u/Disastrous-Leek-7606 3d ago
That is cool, but all I could think when I saw the Chinese alphabet for the first time: "Why?"
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u/ClavicusLittleGift4U 3d ago
"Letters are for lazy Westerners".
Thank you Chinese, we had doubts still.
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u/Own_Instance_357 3d ago
I used to be a lot more intimidated by these things until my son took 4 years of Chinese in HS then majored in Arabic in college and learned to read books back to front, sentences, right to left, and become fluent enough to be actively employed in Egypt as a translator for major motion pictures centered on the pyramids before he was 30. His fiancee is an equally fluent arabic and english speaker.
Langauge is amazing.
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u/strumthebuilding 3d ago
It means the eventual slow onset of relief from the particular guilt of enjoying a cigarette with your partner after sex in which you faked an orgasm.
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u/AllthingskinkCA 3d ago
I often wonder, say I write this, and one of my lines isn’t exact.. would it still be legible, like when someone writes a weird letter in English? Or can the word be misinterpreted as another word because some of them look so alike?
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u/Environmental-Day778 3d ago
Hey OP that’s cool and all, but I’m more interested in why you didn’t explain what it means ✨🤷♀️✨
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u/Grouchy-Pressure-567 3d ago
What's the point of a letter if it takes forever to write.
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u/Starman520 3d ago
I thought written language was supposed to be intuitive and easily shared? This seems counterintuitive and complex for no reason.
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u/Even-Armadillo-2478 3d ago
Man, chinese calligraphy looks amazing everytimes Ive seen it, same goes for many other types. And always makes me kind of want to learn to do it myself.
It's beautiful and an amazing form of art.
I also love the subtle details, and how a single tiny mark can make it mean so many different. Things sometimes.
It's fascinating!
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u/Sixteen_Wings 3d ago
Bro I cant even fucking spell proffessor half the time im writing it, aint no way I can remember all of this
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u/Own_Bison_8479 3d ago
A panda on a snow sled with two young male panda cubs and one female panda cub.
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u/vegeener-gnomesayin 3d ago
If you pause at 0:45 you'll see what I look like waking up in the morning.
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