220 Leave A Message

What kind of method do you prefer to leave a message for someone? ShaoLan and Josh Edbrooke discuss various ways of leaving messages in today’s digital world, be it audio or written. Once again, when taken apart, the two words that make up “leave a message” are very useful building blocks and can describe many other situations, such as physically staying behind, or remaining in a particular location. One of the most famous quotes from Taiwanese cinema involves the hero asking the female protagonist to “stay with him, or he will go with her,” something that Josh has actually done in order to stay with his wife in Taiwan!

The Chinese for “leaving a message” is 留言. The first character means “to leave behind” or “to leave a trace” and the second word is “word,” so when you “leave your word” then you “leave a message” 留言. Interestingly, the word for “rumor” (the floating word) shares the same pronunciation as the word for “leaving a message,” so make sure the context is clear when you use one or the other!