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When I first moved to Taiwan and was just getting a handle on Chinese, I asked a waiter "請給我一個筷子" - not yet being familiar with proper measure words. The waite

When I first moved to Taiwan and was just getting a handle on Chinese, I asked a waiter "請給我一個筷子" - not yet being familiar with proper measure words. The waiter (who had a bit of a sense of humor) brought me exactly ONE chopstick. I laughed and repeated 請給我另一個筷子 (Please give me another chopstick) and he brought out another one. Of course later my friend told me that I should have used 雙 to indicate I wanted a "pair" of chopsticks.

thaumasiotes 7mo ago
> Of course later my friend told me that I should have used 雙 to indicate I wanted a "pair" of chopsticks. That's hard to guess. There are three common measure words meaning "pair"; 副 is for "pairs" that are connected, like a "pair" of scissors in English, but 双 and 对 are basically identical in significance as far as I know. > The waiter (who had a bit of a sense of humor) brought me exactly ONE chopstick. Slightly unfair, since 一个筷子, beyond being semantically anomalous, is more or less ungrammatical too. If you actually wanted one chopstick, you'd say 一只筷子. What kind of path did you take that taught you how to say 另一个 before you learned about measure words?
- vunderba 7mo ago
  I think they were just poking a bit of good natured fun at me. Many foreigners new to Chinese just kind of blindly use 個 for everything when they're starting out. > What kind of path did you take that taught you how to say 另一个 before you learned about measure words? The self-taught kind. :)
- Umofomia 7mo ago
  > That's hard to guess. There are three common measure words meaning "pair" [...] > If you actually wanted one chopstick, you'd say 一只筷子. Traditional Chinese script versions of Simplified 只 and 双 actually make this more apparent, where they would be 隻 and 雙, which are pictograms illustrating one and two birds in a hand, respectively.

thaumasiotes 7mo ago

> Of course later my friend told me that I should have used 雙 to indicate I wanted a "pair" of chopsticks. That's hard to guess. There are three common measure words meaning "pair"; 副 is for "pairs" that are connected, like a "pair" of scissors in English, but 双 and 对 are basically identical in significance as far as I know. > The waiter (who had a bit of a sense of humor) brought me exactly ONE chopstick. Slightly unfair, since 一个筷子, beyond being semantically anomalous, is more or less ungrammatical too. If you actually wanted one chopstick, you'd say 一只筷子. What kind of path did you take that taught you how to say 另一个 before you learned about measure words?

vunderba 7mo ago
I think they were just poking a bit of good natured fun at me. Many foreigners new to Chinese just kind of blindly use 個 for everything when they're starting out. > What kind of path did you take that taught you how to say 另一个 before you learned about measure words? The self-taught kind. :)
Umofomia 7mo ago
> That's hard to guess. There are three common measure words meaning "pair" [...] > If you actually wanted one chopstick, you'd say 一只筷子. Traditional Chinese script versions of Simplified 只 and 双 actually make this more apparent, where they would be 隻 and 雙, which are pictograms illustrating one and two birds in a hand, respectively.