# 理发，剪头发



## yuechu

大家好！

If someone says 我明天理发 or 我明天剪头发, could these sentences potentially be ambiguous in Chinese? ("I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow" or "I'm cutting someone's hair tomorrow" (if the person is a hairdresser))
Thanks!


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## SimonTsai

In everyday conversation, we usually say '剪頭髮', and yes, it can be sort of ambiguous.


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## Vincent Tam

Hi Yuechu

我明天去理发 or 我明天去剪头发
e.g. 我打算明天去理发，你要不要一起去？


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## SimonTsai

'我明天打算把頭髮 [理一理 / 剪一剪 / 修一修 / 擼一擼].' These can't be ambiguous.


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## yuechu

Thank you both for your suggestions!


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## hx1997

SimonTsai said:


> 修一修


In my experience, 修 (to trim) usually suggests cutting off a smaller amount than 剪.



SimonTsai said:


> 擼一擼


I think this sounds super informal or dialectical.


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## SuperXW

yuechu said:


> could these sentences* potentially be ambiguous* in Chinese? ("I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow" or "I'm cutting someone's hair tomorrow" (if the person is a hairdresser))
> Thanks!


Yes. 
Just that few people would cut someone else's hair tomorrow.
Normally, we take it as "one's own hair".


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## T.D

I would say only in a very very specific situation would the sentence mean 'I will be cutting someone else's hair tomorrow'. In 99.99% cases you can safely assume it means the speaker is getting his/her hair cut.


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## retrogradedwithwind

除了理发师之外，一般人说理发/剪头，意思都是剪自己的头发。

剪头，生活中常读为jiǎo头，正字为“铰头”。(其实在部分北方话中，我个人经验是，几乎没人说“剪”，都是说“铰”。但书面语中铰字用得很少。)


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## hx1997

retrogradedwithwind said:


> 剪头，生活中常读为jiǎo头，正字为“铰头”。


北方话这么说吗，南方从来没听过这种说法，我可能会以为是“绞头”（如果这个词有意义的话）什么的...

Edit: 楼下说闽语也这么说，是我孤陋寡闻了...


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## Skatinginbc

臺語 (閩語) '剪頭髮' 是 '*鉸*頭鬃'.

臺語 (閩語) '推剪' 叫 '*擼*仔' (also written as 攄仔 or 鑢仔).  Simon 說的 '擼一擼' (#4), 我猜就是 '推剪一下" 的意思.


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## SuperXW

retrogradedwithwind said:


> 除了理发师之外，一般人说理发/剪头，意思都是剪自己的头发。
> 
> 剪头，生活中常读为jiǎo头，正字为“铰头”。(其实在部分北方话中，我个人经验是，几乎没人说“剪”，都是说“铰”。但书面语中铰字用得很少。)


我估计剪头才是标准普通话，jiao3头是北方方言。在北方说剪头也没问题，但到南方说jiao3头恐怕就不懂了。
“撸一撸”肯定只适用在台湾吧？令我想起北方男生可能会说类似的“把头推一推/推个头”（指用“推子”-理发器，用向上推的动作理发）。


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## brofeelgood

Where I'm at....

Scissors
閩語: 鉸刀
粵語: 鉸剪

Haircut
閩語: 鉸頭毛 (pronounced as mŋ̍)
粵語: 剪頭(髮)/飛頭(髮)


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## questioncollecter

For the hairdresser in China， “cutting someone's hair” always means "有活儿（having a job to do). So if I am a hairdresser, I will say "我明天要干活儿/上班“ instead of " 我明天要去理发”，because it is not necessary to emphasize“明天”. So it is only ambiguous in theory, it is always easy to distinguish in everyday use, especially when there is a context.


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## yuechu

That's very interesting! Thanks, Questioncollector and everyone else for your replies!


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## SuperXW

Same to 我明天上课 (go to class), it can either be taking class, or teaching class.


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## Youngfun

I think it's more common to say 我明天要去理发店上班 rather than 理发


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## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> 在北方说剪头也没问题，但到南方说 jiao3 头恐怕就不懂了。


I have not ever heard anyone around me saying '絞頭', so yes, I'd have been confused.


> 令我想起北方男生可能会说类似的 “把头推一推 /推个头”。


We may say something like, '旁邊推九分, 後面一樣推高, 前面到眉毛, 謝謝.'


hx1997 said:


> 楼下说闽语也这么说，是我孤陋寡闻了...


In Hokkien, it is actually pronounced '嘎淘摸'.


> I think [撸一撸] sounds super informal or dialectal.


You are right. As a matter of fact, the character '撸' is rarely used in formal writing. (It is most commonly seen in '撸管', '撸貓', and '把頭髮撸一撸' in my personal experience.)


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## ovaltine888

for male, we will also say 我去剃个头 because ladies usually just 修一修


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## questioncollecter

SimonTsai said:


> I have not ever heard anyone around me saying '絞頭', so yes, I'd have been confused.
> 
> We may say something like, '旁邊推九分, 後面一樣推高, 前面到眉毛, 謝謝.'
> 
> In Hokkien, it is actually pronounced '嘎淘摸'.
> 
> You are right. As a matter of fact, the character '撸' is rarely used in formal writing. (It is most commonly seen in '撸管', '撸貓', and '把頭髮撸一撸' in my personal experience.)


在东北，“铰头”应该是最流行的说法，一般都会说“我去铰个头”，当然店面的名字还是“理发店”。“剃头”和“剪头”应该是全国通用的。


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## SimonTsai

'剃' is a possible choice but is not the first that would come to my mind and is not what I would expect to hear people saying. It evokes the image of a bald head (like the one of Vin Diesel or The Rock, or the famous Burmese model Paing Takhon) or a flat top (like the one of the popular comic character Kankichi Ryotsu, a macho).


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## SuperXW

你们听过女士说“剃头”吗？


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## Skatinginbc

SuperXW said:


> 你们听过女士说“剃头”吗？


怎麼沒有? 媽媽 (是個女士) 說:「你該去剃頭了!」

言歸正傳, 女士的頭髮當然可以剃, 如：「女孩被惡霸剃光頭」(不是被迫削髮為尼). 現在女孩流行剃頭--把頭剃成男人的樣兒.


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## leo benson

Usually a man will say 我明天理发 while a woman will say 我明天剪头发


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## 禅性智

I often say "jia头发" in Chongqing dialect.


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## SimonTsai

leo benson said:


> Usually a man will say 我明天理发 while a woman will say 我明天剪头发


Here in Taiwan, a man would say either whereas a woman normally wouldn't say the first. (This is meant to be a general statement, so exceptions may exist, of course.)


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## Mr.Urchin

一直说“铰剪”，第一次知道对应的字。
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As for the question, there is no difference. Though it confuses non-native speakers literally.
"我明天理发" and "我明天剪头发" express the same meaning~
Both of them are common expressions.


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## SimonTsai

'理髮' literally means to get your hair tidy and not a mess. '剪髮' simply means to cut your hair. So we usually say '理髮師'. (In everyday conversation, we expect these two to be synonymous and interchangeable because of the context.)


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