The Beauty of Mandarin

I realized today that I've been studying Mandarin for a little over a year now. Hmm, I am much less further along than I thought I'd be at this point. But in my defense, it's not an easy language as it's based on tones. For example, the same word can have 4 different meanings based on the tone of your voice. But what I really wanted to share today is the interesting translations I've learned over the past year. As my language skills become better, I find that the literal translation of the words in Mandarin are very interesting, funny, and make total sense. So here is a list of my favorites (English word on the left, Mandarin word on the right):

Cash= present gold
Turkey= fire chicken
Ham= fire leg
Gym= healthy body room
Great Wall= Long City
America= Beautiful country
To boil (water)= open the water
Santa= Christmas Old Person
Computer= electric brain
Joke= laugh words
To become a priest= Leave your house forever
So-so= horse horse tiger tiger

I'll add some more as my language gets better. And for those who haven't heard, we have now extended for yet another year in China (back in summer of 2010) so I'll have plenty to time to improve my Mandarin over the next 1.5 years!