Cyan: I'm reading about quantum physics!!
Me: Ooh!
Cyan: Yeah, it's a book in Chinese! I learned about the shiny element!
Me: Shiny element???
Cyan: Shiny element!! You know, the dead cat....
Me: ????????
Cyan: There's proton, neutron...
Me: Electron? Photon???
Cyan: YES!!
Me: 🤦♀️
@lina
rip shiny cat, we hardly knew you
@lina shiny element... i love it
from the language that gave us "cellphone" = "hand machine"
@AVincentInSpace Yeah, I know 電子 for electron and "light child" would've made a lot more sense to me than "shiny element"! I thought she was talking about platinum or something...
Chinese constructions are actually very on point for science often, like 水銀.
@lina i mean, *we* call it quicksilver
though i gotta say "silver water" is a lot more descriptive
