English vocabulary is often a problem for foreign students. Many college students worry if they can't say or write a word in English. They sometimes ask their teacher questions such as "How do you say 食人族 [ShyrRenTzwu (GR) ShiRenZu (Pinyin)] in English?"
Please stop worrying about such problems. Many years ago, you learned lots of useful words in junior high school. Now you can use these old words in new ways! Also remember that in English we like to put together pairs of nouns to make compound nouns, such as "English teacher" (somebody who teaches English) and "truck driver" (somebody who drives a truck). Now you can answer the 食人族 question by yourself:
How do you say 食? Eat.
How do you say 人? People.
So how do you say 食人族? People eater!
Yes, there is also a special word that means "people eater," but foreigners don't care if you use exactly the right word. If they know what you mean, that's usually enough, so STOP worrying about vocabulary! Try to make new words from old words.
Actually, there is a funny song that uses the compound noun "people eater." This is one of my favorite silly songs: The One Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater. Enjoy:
The singer says he is afraid of the purple people eater, but on line 11 the monster explains that he doesn't really eat all kinds of people, only purple people. In other words, the singer thinks that this monster is purple and it eats people 吃人肉的紫色怪物!("Uh, oh! Please don't eat me, Mr Monster!")
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| A people eater who is purple: [NP [ADJP [ADJ purple]] [NP [N people] [N eater]]] |
The monster explains that he only eats purple people, so the singer is safe ("I only eat purple people, and you are white, so I don't want to eat you!") 放心！我不吃白色人種，我只吃紫色人種啊！
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| A monster that eats purple people: [NP [NP [ADJ purple] [N people]] [NP [N eater] ]] |
[NP = Noun Phrase, a group of words with a noun as its most important word;
ADJP = Adjective Phrase, a group of words with an adjective as its most important word]
Some of the lyrics are explained below:
1
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Well I saw the thing coming out of the
sky
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2
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It had one long horn and one big eye
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one-eyed, one-horned
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3
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I commenced to shakin' and I said oo-wee
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commenced to shakin’ [not a useful word]
= started shaking
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4
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It looks like a purple people eater to me
|
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5
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It was a one-eyed one-horned flying
purple people eater
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6
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Sure looks strange to me
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7
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Well, he came down to earth and he lit in
a tree
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lit [not
a useful word] in a tree = landed in a tree
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8
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I said "Mr Purple People Eater,
don't eat me!"
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9
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I heard him say in a voice so gruff
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a gruff voice = a low voice that sounds
serious
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10
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"I wouldn't eat you 'cos you're so
tough"
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‘cos = because
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11
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It was a one-eyed one-horned flying
purple people eater
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12
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It sure looks strange to me
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13
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I said Mr Purple People Eater “What's
your line?”
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What’s your line = What’s your specialty (what kind of job are you good at)?
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14
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He said “Eating purple people, and it
sure is fine.
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I eat people who are purple
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15
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But that's not the reason that I came to
land
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16
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I wanna get a job in a rock 'n roll band”
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