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==Cross-language issues== | ==Cross-language issues== | ||
===Pinzu versus Tonzu=== | |||
The cash coins represented on mahjong tiles would be accurately described as tonzu. However, many areas in China, as well as the people who helped disseminate mahjong in Japan were using the term pinzu, representing barrels as opposed to coins. In the western world, there is no clear term used: circles and dots in English, cercles and sapèques in French, etc. While standardizing to one word per language serves a purpose, forcefully aligning every language to a singular concept may not be beneficial. | |||
'''Ruling''': ''pinzu'' in Japanese, ''sapèque'' in French, TBD in English. | |||
===Souzu versus Bamboo=== | |||
Souzu in Japanese represents what it does in Chinese: string stacks of coins, representing 100 coins per stack. It in no way means bamboo (it's not called chikuzu), but as it has garnered overwhelming traction in all languages even by people uninterested in mahjong, it would be pointless to change a term that has garnered more acceptance than the game itself. | |||
===Terminals versus Ends=== | ===Terminals versus Ends=== | ||
There is a dispute as whether to use terminals or ends for the terms yaochuuhai and routouhai. In English and French, the logic that applies is that a terminal must be at the start, finish, or sole point in a line, whereas an end '''must''' be at the start or finish of a non-zero length line. In German, there is an expression, "Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei". It is important to consider the three suits (die Farbe) as being the sausage here. | There is a dispute as whether to use terminals or ends for the terms yaochuuhai and routouhai. In English and French, the logic that applies is that a terminal must be at the start, finish, or sole point in a line, whereas an end '''must''' be at the start or finish of a non-zero length line. In German, there is an expression, "Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei". It is important to consider the three suits (die Farbe) as being the sausage here. | ||
Ruling: Yaochuuhai, even if it says "1-9-tiles" in Japanese and Chinese, means all of ones, nines, winds and dragons: it is | '''Ruling''': ''Yaochuuhai'', even if it says "1-9-tiles" in Japanese and Chinese, means all of ones, nines, winds and dragons: it is thus translated as ''terminals''. <br> ''Routouhai'' refers specifically to ones and nines exclusively: both [[honroutou]] and [[chinroutou]] require that consistency be kept among the terms (and [[tsuuiisou]] requires none), and thus, it should be translated as ''ends''. |
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