(no subject)
One of the interesting things about Chinese-derived languages that fascinates me is the preponderance of ordered sets. For instance, novels in a series are labeled up and down, or if there are three, up, middle, and down. (I assume that in modern literature, where longer series are common, they simply number them.)
There is a "graded" set which is made of pine, bamboo, and plum, which you may have seen when ordering sushi. (Pine is the largest/best/most expensive set, plum is the least. You might recognize them as matsu, take, and ume.)
There is the set of elements: fire, water, wood, gold/metal, and earth (no, not heart). I'm not sure if there's a particular order to them, but Japanese uses these for the days of the weeks, and in that order they exactly parallel the gods Tuesday through Saturday are named for in English.
There are the celestial stems (so named for reasons I don't understand).
There's a poem in Japanese, of which the first three characters are i, ro, and ha. It used to be the traditional order for teaching the kana, but now they just use the sound-based order. There characters can still be used for their ordering (although most people probably don't know anything beyond the first line: i ro ha ni ho he to).
Doubtless I'm forgetting a couple, and there are probably also ones which I haven't heard of yet.
All told, their selection of names by which sets can be ordered is impressive. We're pretty much stuck with letters, numbers, and Roman numerals.
There is a "graded" set which is made of pine, bamboo, and plum, which you may have seen when ordering sushi. (Pine is the largest/best/most expensive set, plum is the least. You might recognize them as matsu, take, and ume.)
There is the set of elements: fire, water, wood, gold/metal, and earth (no, not heart). I'm not sure if there's a particular order to them, but Japanese uses these for the days of the weeks, and in that order they exactly parallel the gods Tuesday through Saturday are named for in English.
There are the celestial stems (so named for reasons I don't understand).
There's a poem in Japanese, of which the first three characters are i, ro, and ha. It used to be the traditional order for teaching the kana, but now they just use the sound-based order. There characters can still be used for their ordering (although most people probably don't know anything beyond the first line: i ro ha ni ho he to).
Doubtless I'm forgetting a couple, and there are probably also ones which I haven't heard of yet.
All told, their selection of names by which sets can be ordered is impressive. We're pretty much stuck with letters, numbers, and Roman numerals.