posted by paglino9 on September 26, 2010 | 3 comments
I've come across a new way to keep track of things in counts of 5. I'm used to writing 4 successive IIII with a final 5th slash mark across the width of the I's. In Chinese I've found that the character 正 is used to keep track of things in 5's. I'm working in a bar now, and my Chinese co-workers keep track of customer's drink orders in this way. Just follow the correct stroke order and you can count anything with this character. Quite interesting, and if I ever find my self stuck on an island or in political jail, I can keep track of the days in this manner. Enjoy.
nmaheshwari on September 27, 2010 | reply
Please explain
@nmaheshwari,
There are five strokes of the character 正, so some Chinese people like to mark numbers using it. For example, if you are counting how many people come into a restaurant,you can write down one stroke of 正 when one person enters. When you finish one 正, it means there are 5 people get in, then you can start another 正. When you are done, you just need to count how many 正 you write, then you can tell how many people are in the restaurant.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
nmaheshwari on September 28, 2010 | reply
Thanks a lot for the clear explanation Echo.