Talk:chin-chin

RFV discussion: December 2019–January 2020

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chin-chin

The current quotations for the English interjection aren't actually English. (Both are quoting Chinese, and one is a translation from Latin. There was a third quote which was actually Chinese Pidgin English, which I moved.) We need examples of the interjection in an English-speaking context. --Lvovmauro (talk) 12:30, 11 December 2019 (UTC)

Here is one use in an English text: [1] – at least, the character uttering the greeting further speaks standard English. I assume that with some effort more similar uses can be dug up. At best, though, as a greeting it remains Cantonese English, but more likely it is an instance of code switching. In another novel by the same author, that same character speaks Chinese Pidgin, so I think the best explanation of the first use is that the character’s pidgin has been translated to English for the reader’s convenience, but that some characteristic terms have been left untranslated.

There seems to be a missing sense. The interjection chin-chin is also used as a toast,[2][3][4] and as such it is perhaps somewhat dated, but not archaic. Some of the synonyms listed under Noun, such as cheers, are actually synonyms of this interjectory sense.  --Lambiam 15:39, 11 December 2019 (UTC)

RFV-resolved. The interjection passes, the noun and the verb fail. Kiwima (talk) 20:16, 11 January 2020 (UTC)

Already noted

but this "citation" is in no way accurate:

1. • 1253: William of Rubruck, Itinerarium — One day there sate by me a certain priest of Cathay, dressed in a red cloth of exquisite colour, and when I asked him whence they got such a dye, he told me how in the eastern parts of Cathay there were lofty cliffs on which dwelt certain creatures in all things partaking of human form, except that their knees did not bend. . . . The huntsmen go thither, taking very strong beer with them, and make holes in the rocks which they fill with this beer. . . . Then they hide themselves and these creatures come out of their holes and taste the liquor, and call out 'Chin Chin.'

The Itinerarium was written in Latin. If this use needs inclusion, it should be listed under the date and name of its translation and not the Latin original. — LlywelynII 16:17, 10 October 2020 (UTC)