[leungclj]

I have been browsing a Chinese forum on pentax stuff, and came across some really interesting thing.

They calls their lense name in a very funny name, for example:

165
535
625

there are lots more, can anyone guess which lense they are referring to?

the answer is:

16-50
50-135
60-250

^highlight the above area for answer.

here is the thread me asking why that is:
http://forum.xitek.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=1297823&extra=

so they said typing the fully name takes too much time, and even worst if call them by their nick name.

also, they call the three amigos (31, 43, & 77mm limited lenses) the three princess.
31mm as the small princess (or young princess)
43mm as the eldest princess (literal translation would be long princess)
77mm as the second princess

[Giklab]

16-50
50-135
60-250 in that order.

[tim60]

Some people do not appreciate the importance of the digit "0".

I notice that in many things Chinese like to abbreviate what they say, and then expect people to know, unambiguously, what they said. Then they get disputes because people did not do what they wanted.

My gues: "princess" is a pun, with a positive association, for something relevant.

[Clavius]

Some people do not appreciate the importance of the digit "0".

I notice that in many things Chinese like to abbreviate what they say, and then expect people to know, unambiguously, what they said. Then they get disputes because people did not do what they wanted.

LOL! AFAIK, that behaviour doesn't restrict itself to our friends in China. Other cultures just abbreviate other things, IMHO. AAMOF, This forum is full of acronyms! BTW, I don't mind looking them up ever now and then, but if it becomes to much it's a royal PITA.

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Last edited by Clavius; 04-25-2014 at 03:59 AM.

[Digitalis]

31mm as the small princess (or young princess)

I would call the FA31 the fat princess - it's by far the biggest of all the FA limited lenses.

[lytrytyr]

I would call the FA31 the fat princess.

Fat? Ouch!

Better Rubenesque, fully-figured, plenty there to love, . . .

[tim60]

LOL! AFAIK, that behaviour doesn't restrict itself to our friends in China. Other cultures just abbreviate other things, IMHO. AAMOF, This forum is full of acronyms! BTW, I don't mind looking them up ever now and then, but if it becomes to much it's a royal PITA.

But the difference between Chinese and the English use of acronyms is that the acronyms shorten, but do represent the whole intended utterance, or at least are an utterance that has been formally defined to represent exactly one thing. Chinese abbreviation takes a few words out of the utterance and hopes the listener will have enough context to reconstruct the whole. Works if they do but if not becomes a cause of misunderstanding. Culturally it works OK for a Chinese speaking to a Chinese in Chinese but not for a Chinese talking in English to and English speaker because the Chinese will drop so much that a statement may not make grammatical sense.

Further to the other side: a friend who did interpretation into Khmer once told me that the structure of Khmer grammar makes it impossible to translate phrase-wise into Khmer since the grammatical structure of a whole sentence is essential to make any utterance.

[stevebrot]

I would call the FA31 the fat princess - it's by far the biggest of all the FA limited lenses.

Fat, but petite.


Steve

[Kerrowdown]

They call their lenses names

Yes but I do that too... Mistress, Good Lady, Special Lady, Sweetheart and Lady luck.

[leungclj]

Culturally it works OK for a Chinese speaking to a Chinese in Chinese but not for a Chinese talking in English to and English speaker because the Chinese will drop so much that a statement may not make grammatical sense.

Just letting you know, I am Chinese too, well... -ish. I am from Hong Kong and no one here calls them the way the Chinese does.

Just in case you are wondering whats the difference between Hong Konger and Chinese. We don't speak the same language.

[clawhammer]

Tokina calls their versions of the 16-50 and 50-135 the 165 and 535 also (see here for the 16-50, similar for 50-135).

[leungclj]

We should start using this naming convention

[tim60]

Just letting you know, I am Chinese too, well... -ish. I am from Hong Kong and no one here calls them the way the Chinese does.

Just in case you are wondering whats the difference between Hong Konger and Chinese. We don't speak the same language.

I am an English only speaker with a lot of contacts in Taiwan. The assumption of context knowledge is the most difficult part of communication.

[Giklab]

We should start using this naming convention

This. I already abbreviate lens names. For one-off lenses, I just say 16-50. For lenses which are similar to others, I say 35/2.4.

[Ztrejfer]

I recently got the DA* 60-300 and the only name for that one I'd think of would be - well, the name mentioned numerous times in this small Monty Python clip...

Youtu.be

Youtu.be