# Translate this Chinese(?)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-chinese/809822>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 1, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-chinese/809822 "2018-03-01T15:27:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-chinese/809822/1 "2018-03-01T15:27:43Z")

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This occurs in a silent ‘Our Gang’ short. I’ve seen some comments that it’s just random Chinese characters that don’t really translate to a coherent sentence. Looking for confirmation.

[[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/9AEFpu7.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/hCk3p)

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**Author:** ![Enilno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58f4c7/32.png) [@Enilno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enilno)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-chinese/809822/2 "2018-03-01T16:44:21Z")

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Yep, it’s just random jibberish. Here’s what each individual character means:

買 purchase  
弔 mourn/hang  
力 force/strength  
𠫔 upper arm  
市 city  
合 join/together

弔 and 𠫔 are rare or ancient variants of the standard characters, which I have never personally seen before. I suspect whoever wrote that might have just picked random radicals and just happened to come up with those.

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-chinese/809822/3 "2018-03-01T16:58:29Z")

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Thanks!

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-chinese/809822/4 "2018-03-01T20:48:58Z")

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It obviously means:

_After the city has joined together, we will purchase it or mourn that we must force our way in using our upper arms!_

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**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-chinese/809822/5 "2018-03-02T03:04:13Z")

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I downloaded Google Translate recently for a trip to China and it shows it as meaning “The path to the golden treasure is under the King’s throne” Start looking!!

Actually, it confirms meaningless gibberish: “Buy hanging cloud just as”

Bummer.

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**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-chinese/809822/6 "2018-03-02T13:51:01Z")

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It’s not even [proper gibberish](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Tianshu_title.jpg).

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**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\
**Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-chinese/809822/7 "2018-03-03T22:00:54Z")

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Wife confirms “no meaning.”