What does this say? Is it Chinese?

[BipgoBumpo]

Hi, guys, I just picked up a silk robe / dressing gown here in Ho Chi Minh City, and it had these characters on it. I asked what they meant, and the sales clerk said "oh it means nothing, just a design." Of course, in Vietnamese, Chinese characters don't mean anything anymore, and I have to admit that they don't really look 100% like Chinese characters, but I just wanted to make sure it doesn't say anything like "sweet & sour chicken" or "this guy's a looser." I'd appreciate it if any of you who can read Chinese or Kanji can confirm that it does indeed mean nothing. Thanks!

 

[chobochobo]

It's highly stylized but I think it's 'Fuk luk sow' or rather 'luck fortune and longevity', a common phrase in chinese.

 

[A Guy from Shanghai]

Not chinese.

 

[Toiletduck]

+1

Originally Posted by chobochobo

It's highly stylized but I think it's 'Fuk luk sow' or rather 'luck fortune and longevity', a common phrase in chinese.

 

[vitaminc]

Originally Posted by chobochobo

It's highly stylized but I think it's 'Fuk luk sow' or rather 'luck fortune and longevity', a common phrase in chinese.

+1

Originally Posted by A Guy from Shanghai

Not chinese.

Cultural revolution at its work here. Definitely not Simplified Chinese.

 

[Matt]

at a guess, I'd say that it is chu nho or chu nom, which was the Vietnamese Chinese script that became redundant ~400 years ago.

 

[Maccimus]

The answer is no.

 

[chobochobo]

the letters are lying on their right side, so you need to rotate the image anticlockwise 90 degrees, then you'd get the three characters from top to bottom. I think they say what I think they say

 

[BipgoBumpo]

Originally Posted by chobochobo

the letters are lying on their right side, so you need to rotate the image anticlockwise 90 degrees, then you'd get the three characters from top to bottom. I think they say what I think they say

Yeah, I should have mentioned that the picture is sideways, for some reason it loaded that way. The old Vietnamese characters were the same as what they call Traditional Chinese characters as used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, but from what I understand that writing system's not that different than the Simplified characters as used in Mainland China and Singapore. Like I said in the first post, they don't really look like Chinese characters to me. Even if it doesn't say "Luck, Fortune and Longevity," that's what I'll tell people it says.

 

[vitaminc]

Originally Posted by BipgoBumpo

Yeah, I should have mentioned that the picture is sideways, for some reason it loaded that way. The old Vietnamese characters were the same as what they call Traditional Chinese characters as used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, but from what I understand that writing system's not that different than the Simplified characters as used in Mainland China and Singapore. Like I said in the first post, they don't really look like Chinese characters to me. Even if it doesn't say "Luck, Fortune and Longevity," that's what I'll tell people it says.

There's at least a dozen types (not fonts, btw) of Chinese characters and that definitely says luck, fortune and longevity.

the plague of Simplified Chinese continued...

 

[A Guy from Shanghai]

Originally Posted by BipgoBumpo

Yeah, I should have mentioned that the picture is sideways...

I stand correct. They are Chinese - "福禄寿" - luck, fortune, and longevity.

 

[vitaminc]

Originally Posted by A Guy from Shanghai

Not chinese.

Originally Posted by A Guy from Shanghai

I stand correct. They are Chinese - "福禄寿" - luck, fortune, and longevity.

 

[SuitingStyle]

Originally Posted by A Guy from Shanghai

I stand correct. They are Chinese - "福禄寿" - luck, fortune, and longevity.

Yep........... its funny, I had to translate the same pharse for my friend over the weekend, she received the writing on a neckless.

 

[BipgoBumpo]

Originally Posted by A Guy from Shanghai

They are Chinese - "福禄寿"

福禄寿? Is that Simplified or Traditional? And how do you say that in pinyin?

 

[A Guy from Shanghai]

Originally Posted by BipgoBumpo

福禄寿? Is that Simplified or Traditional? And how do you say that in pinyin?

Simplified Chinese. In pinyin, they will be like: fu(2) lu(4) shou(4).