山村訓長但知覓

There's that fun word 쌍 雙. Most people know that 쌍 and 씨(氏) are the only two 쌍시옷 words in a normal sized 옥편, where 된소리 are hard to come by. Anyhow, if you don't already know, care to hazard a guess as to what it means?

☞ You don't want to get this one confused with that other 쌍 word (actually '상' pronounced with extra force, so it sounds like 쌍) that is so prevalent. ^^

It's not too hard to guess that 雙 means "pair" by the pair of short tailed birds 隹 sitting on (or in) the right hand 又. It becomes a pair of right hands in the modern mainland version: 双, which is surely an odd thing. If you remembered the "double-dragon" conglomorate 쌍용, or the word 쌍둥이 (some say 둥이=童이, others say that it's a pure Korean morpheme), that would have been a good hint, too.

Sometimes this 雙 word is used in people's names. The current CEO of LG Electronics, is a case in point. And in 100 of these cases, at least 98 will be actual twins.

Anyway, the whole reason that this 쌍스러운 thing came to mind was that the Sanchon Hunjang was noticing that many many acquaintances have chosen this year to wed. In inquiring into whether it was just chance or by design, I was informed that it is because this year is a Twin Spring Year 雙春秊 쌍춘년.

This should, under no circumstances, be shortened to 쌍년 ^^.

A Twin Spring Year means that the lunar year has 2 First Days of Spring (入春 입춘). In other words, the lunar 2006 (丙戌年 병술년) runs from solar January 29, 2006 to February 17, 2007, and this includes a first day of spring on February 4, 2006, as well as another on February 4, 2007 (this is due to the lunar 2006 having an extra seventh month added, which lengthens the number of days in the year. Thus there is the standard seventh month plus an extra seventh month). Because spring is associated with love and sparking, this is supposed to augur extremely well for those looking to tie the knot.

The other side of the same coin is that the lunar 2005 (乙酉年 을해년) was a Year that Lost its Spring 亡春年 망춘년, and thus a horrible year for marriage.

If you're not in the position to get hitched this year, not to despair. The next Twin Spring Year will be 2009, so you won't have too long to wait.

For those teetering on the verge of taking that wedding plunge, best not let grass grow under those feet and miss your chance at what promises to be a fortuitous year for that activity. What it means for the Sanchon Hunjang is that there's going to be much more lousy 국수 to be eaten before the year is out ㅡ.ㅡ;;;;