Fortune Cookie Chinese Word Symbols Quiz

Answer: Cat

Felix was one of the earliest animated cats, and Morris was the spokescat for 9 Lives cat food for many years. Cat is "māo" in Chinese.

Answer: Telephone

The telephone has morphed in the last ten years into a supercomputer more powerful than the computer systems that sent Apollo 11 to the moon. But as late as about 1980, it still was attached to the wall (or cordless if you had the money), and some didn't even have buttons yet. Telephone is "diànhuà" in Chinese.

Answer: Pencil

It turns out pencils never really contained lead; in the 1500s a large deposit of graphite was found that was so hard it could be sawed into thin strips. The material was called plumbago or "lead ore", hence the impression that it was lead in the pencils of yore. But it was the same material you see in pencils today. Pencil is "qiānbǐ" in Chinese.

Answer: Table tennis

This symbol is actually pronounced PING PONG, hence the reason many call the sport this. An invitation of the US table tennis team to China helped instigate a more peaceful time between the two countries. Table tennis, as I mentioned, is "Pīngpāng" in Chinese.

Answer: Tired

You can be mentally tired, as you would be after playing 2,000 quizzes, or physically tired, perhaps after a marathon run or a 14-hour shift at a factory. Tired is "lèi" in Chinese.

Answer: Egg

65 percent of people polled said eggs were their most popular pick to have for breakfast, just ahead of coffee and cereal. Whether it be poached, sunny side up, scrambled, or over easy, or any of the other myriad of ways to prepare, eggs are versatile enough to find their way out of breakfast as well. Egg is "dàn" in Chinese.

Answer: Piano

Sa Chen won a bronze medal in 2005, and Haochen Zhang won gold in 2009. The Van Cliburn Piano Competition, named after the great American piano player Van Cliburn, is one of the most competitive piano competitions in the world, taking place every four years. Piano is "gāngqín" in Chinese.

Answer: Throw

While you would certainly be able to catch a Frisbee, ventriloquists do not catch their voices, they "throw" them. I have often wonder why outfielders throw the ball but pitchers pitch the ball. And an instructor will tell a pitcher, "throw strikes". When did he stop pitching strikes? Throw is "pao" in Chinese.

Answer: Rocket

Russia (then the Soviet Union) launched the first manned rocket into space in 1961, followed soon after by the United States. Other countries have launched satellites into space, but they have used other countries to send their citizens into space. That was until China got a manned rocket into space in 2001.

Answer: Tent

They say the order of importance when trying to survive is water, food, fire, then shelter. But most campers have some semblance of hydration with them, and food. And a lighter or matches to get their fire started. After that, you need shelter and that comes in the form of the tent. Rocket is "huǒjiàn" in Chinese.