# measure words (regional difference)



## cheshire

Today I was surprised to learn that the counter for vehicles in 上海話 is 部 （for which I think is 輌 right in 普通話).
Are there any other counters in Chinese dialects that are surprising?


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## nichec

cheshire said:


> Today I was surprised to learn that the counter for vehicles in 上海話 is 部 （for which I think is 輌 right in 普通話).
> Are there any other counters in Chinese dialects that are surprising?


 
All these work for me

一部/輛/台車


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## samanthalee

For one, native speakers probably won't find anything surprising in their own language until someone points it out to them.

For another, if we take the Chinese dialects as unique languages in their own rights, instead of considering them variants of Mandarin (which they are not), then there'll not be any "surprising" counters. For example, Mandarin speakers will think 一匹鳥 and 一本毛 are "surprising" counters. But Taiwanese (Minnan) speakers will be very familiar with 一尾魚. (For the uninitiated, 一匹鳥,  一本毛 and 一尾魚 are Japanese counters. And 一尾魚 is a Taiwanese counter.)

Finding surprising counters in Chinese dialects is as interesting as seeing the parallel between Taiwanese's 一本冊 and Japanese's 一冊本 (in Mandarin 一本書, 一本书); interesting, but potentially meaningless. 

* Edited* (to satisfy the curiosity of coconutpalm):
Japanese 一本 = Mandarin 一根, 一條
Japanese 毛一本 = Mandarin 一根毛


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## coconutpalm

Oh, my, that's really surprising! 一匹鸟！
Yet I don't know what 一本毛means. Could you explain it? Thanks!
And 一尾/条鱼are both right with me.
Back to the thread, I'm with Nichec about the measure words of 车. Besides, you might often hear this kind of sentence: 你叫个车嘛/我打算叫个车(why not hail a cab?/I'm going to take a taxi) in spoken Chinese, where 辆 often appears instead of 个as well.


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## kareno999

cheshire said:


> Today I was surprised to learn that the counter for vehicles in 上海話 is 部 （for which I think is 輌 right in 普通話).
> Are there any other counters in Chinese dialects that are surprising?


 
Hi cheshire,

Different dialects use different quatitiers. 
The list can go on and on and on


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## demoore

With 部, the car sounds bigger than with 辆...
一部宝马 (a BMW)
一辆桑塔纳 (a Santana)


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## cheshire

Thanks everyone!



nichec said:


> All these work for me
> 
> 一部/輛/台車


Thanks! I'm learning 上海話、台湾話、普通話 and 広東話　at the same time. I like the sound of the last one best.



samanthalee said:


> For another, if we take the Chinese dialects as unique languages in their own rights, instead of considering them variants of Mandarin (which they are not), then there'll not be any "surprising" counters. For example, Mandarin speakers will think 一匹鳥 and 一本毛 are "surprising" counters. But Taiwanese (Minnan) speakers will be very familiar with 一尾魚. (For the uninitiated, 一匹鳥,  一本毛 and 一尾魚 are Japanese counters. And 一尾魚 is a Taiwanese counter.)
> 
> Finding surprising counters in Chinese dialects is as interesting as seeing the parallel between Taiwanese's 一本冊 and Japanese's 一冊本 (in Mandarin 一本書, 一本书); interesting, but potentially meaningless.
> 
> * Edited* (to satisfy the curiosity of coconutpalm):
> Japanese 一本 = Mandarin 一根, 一條
> Japanese 毛一本 = Mandarin 一根毛


I find it good to learn not just 普通話 but other Chinese dialects. It's full of surprise!



coconutpalm said:


> Oh, my, that's really surprising! 一匹鸟！
> Yet I don't know what 一本毛means.


I'm surprised that you are surprised by 一匹鸟. I learned that you use 匹 for what Japanese use 頭 (counter for cows, horses, and other farm animals).

We　use 本 for what you use 条. 



demoore said:


> With 部, the car sounds bigger than with 辆...
> 一部宝马 (a BMW)
> 一辆桑塔纳 (a Santana)


Are you familiar with 上海話?


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## xiaolijie

I think 一匹鳥 could have started off as a mistake related to the standard 一匹馬.  ???


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## coconutpalm

No idea here, but it's probable.
I think 匹 has something to do with hide, yet fish certainly has no hide.
We really need a linguist here.


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## nichec

coconutpalm said:


> No idea here, but it's probable.
> I think 匹 has something to do with hide, yet fish certainly has no hide.
> We really need a linguist here.


 
I have never heard of "一匹鳥" either, I must confess.


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## samanthalee

nichec said:


> I have never heard of "一匹鳥" either, I must confess.



That's not surprising. It's Japanese, not Chinese.

I believe that comparing the Chinese dialects to Mandarin is akin to comparing Japanese to Mandarin. In fact, there is at least 1 counter I can think of in Taiwanese that don't even have a Chinese character for it.

Hence I brought "一匹鳥" up just to illustrate that "surprising" counters in Chinese dialects are no longer "surprising" if we remember that they are full-fledge languages in their own rights.


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## loam

Does anybody like to say Shandong dialect (山东话）？
My hometown is in the Shandong Province.

A counter "口": 一口棺材（a coffin）.


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## AVim

一匹鸟?  A pair of birds?


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