The order of the greats...

[i_fotted]

So I was just sitting there daydreaming and suddenly got curious to why the greats in LOCH are announced in this particular order when they are brought up: East HYS, West OYF, South Yideng, North H7.

From what I gather, they are equivalent in martial arts so it can't be based on that. This may have been mentioned in the novel, but the only conclusion I came up with is that they sound better?

[Dennis Chen]

Hey, that's true.

Just as we say: North, South, East, West in English, in Chinese, it should be:

Dong Xie, Nan Di, Xi Du, Bei Gai.

Odd.

[flamer]

Whats wrong with East West South North?

东西南北. Doesn't sound that unusual to me, I hear it quite often.

[K2Grey]

east west south north sounds rather awkward compared to the other order for some reason.

[forgot password]

chinese is a tonal language, and dong1 xi1 nan2 bei3 sounds much better then whatever else. so nothing weird here.

[tape]

Really, we're just used to hearing it. I don't think it'll necessarily sound that much worse if it's switched around to someone who never heard of it before. But I'm sure technically the current version sounds a bit more pleasant to the ears since he chose to do it that way, but probably not by much.

[Candide]

If you draw a line following the dong1 xi1 nan2 bei3, you'll come up with some ancient alien symbol that may mean something...I think.

[Ken Cheng]

chinese is a tonal language, and dong1 xi1 nan2 bei3 sounds much better then whatever else. so nothing weird here.

Cantonese-speakers do it "dung," "nam," "sai," "bak" instead.

There are hundreds of regional variations of the Chinese language. Not everybody in China is happy with Beijing's lingual domination.

[yittz]

From my chinese teachings, we use dong nan xi bei too. Although dong xi nan bei isn't wrong and can be used.

[shadow8899]

Is Dong Nam Sai Buk (Dung Nan Si Bei) more due to playing Mahjong?

As for english, for me it is always east, west, north, south due to the line of work that I am in.

[AnhHung]

Cantonese-speakers do it "dung," "nam," "sai," "bak" instead.

So do the Vietnamese speakers.

[Ahoxan]

So do the Vietnamese speakers.

Yes,

"Dong", "Tay", "Nam", "Bac"
East, West, South, North

sounds natural to me too... though I never thought about it before.

[AnhHung]

Cantonese-speakers do it "dung," "nam," "sai," "bak" instead.

There are hundreds of regional variations of the Chinese language. Not everybody in China is happy with Beijing's lingual domination.

So do the Vietnamese speakers.

Yes,

"Dong", "Tay", "Nam", "Bac"
East, West, South, North

sounds natural to me too... though I never thought about it before.

What you Ahoxan said isnt the same as what Ken Cheng said, yet im agreeing with both of them.

But after reading it out loud a few times, I think Ahoxan is correct. Then the order of Greats seems natural.