Comments on: Bowl, Plate, Plowl

By: Syz (Steve Hansen)

Syz (Steve Hansen) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:47:31 +0000

It’s a hard mentality to break out of. To this day I still find myself calling this thing a 碗 and confusing my mother-in-law, who couldnt think of it as anything other than a 盘儿.

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:58:52 +0000

I (native English speaker) got into exactly this discussion with a native Mandarin speaker (with excellent English) while helping her to cook the other day. She asked for a plate (in English) and after a few ‘hilarious’ comic misunderstandings we worked out that she wanted the object that you pictured, which I would call a bowl.

Her justification was that you it’s not a bowl because you can’t pick it up and _drink_ from it.

Mine was that it is a bowl because you can eat soup (or cereal with milk, etc.) from it.

By: pc

pc — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:37:00 +0000

Has anyone seen anyone in China eat soup out of a bowl like that?
I’ve seen everything from cereal to random liquids in a bowl like that in China, but never soup. Perhaps thats the distinction?

That is to say, the inherent soupability of the container will either make it 盘 (no soup) or 晚 (soup)。

Hopefully someone has noticed something along this line, but like Lil Wayne once said: “The only thing on the mind of a foreigner in China is eat.”

By: Chris Waugh

Chris Waugh — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:54:14 +0000

@Tony: 碗 for 杯 seems to make a certain amount of sense considering how often one sees a 碗 used as a 杯, whether to drink tea, beer, or baijiu. At least, in an old-fashioned, lower class sort of context – I’ve mostly seen it in films set before Reform and Opening Up in working class or rural contexts, I’ve seen (and enjoyed it) myself out in the countryside, although not for some years now, and I seem to have heard of 大碗茶 being sold on the streets of Beijing up into the ’80s (and if anybody remembers or knows somebody who remembers Beijing’s 大碗茶, please chime in with a description). Having blethered all that, I’ve never heard the words 碗 and 杯 used interchangeably, just seen the objects used interchangeably.

By: Karan Misra

Karan Misra — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:58:00 +0000

@John People in the south use 碟 more than in the north. For example, even technical terms such as “hard disk” that are translated as “硬盤” in the north are often called “硬碟” in the south, and “frisbee” is “飛碟” in Cantonese instead of “飛盤”. I personally like the sound of 碟 and 碟子 better than 盤 and 盤子 in Mandarin, and definitely in Cantonese (dihp versus pùhn).

By: John

John — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:54:48 +0000

But what about 碟子 ?

This is a word I used to try to use a lot, because it better fit my own conception of “plate,” and I had noticed that Chinese people tend to use 盘, which I could never quite sure meant “plate” or “bowl.” Only problem is that Chinese speakers don’t use 碟子 so much…

By: Syz

Syz — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:36:50 +0000

@Tony, that’s fascinating. Now that you mention it, I can’t believe I didn’t even consider that next break in the plate-bowl-cup topology. I wonder if you still hear the 碗 and 杯 interchangeability in younger dongbei folks. I don’t recall having heard it in Beijing, but I’ll pay more attention now.

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:07:39 +0000

My grandmother, who comes from 东北, also calls coffee mugs, cups, and milk glasses 碗. For these items, she uses 碗 and 杯 interchangeably. I’ve never asked her why, but Julie’s definition is consistent with this.