Linguistically Speaking II

All my life i thought 铁 (tie3) was translated as "metal" in English.

But after watching Chinese shows on TV, i saw that names such as 铁蛋 (tie3 dan4) was translated as "iron egg" (instead of "metal egg"); and 铁沙掌 was translated as "iron sand palm" (instead of "metal sand palm"). I then came to the conclusion that:

铁(tie3)= iron

as for the generic term:

金属(jin1 shu3)= metal

钢(gang1)= steel


If you're born and bred in China, or simply are more versed than me in Chinese, you may not find this an eye-opener at all. In that case, pardon me and read some other post or blog.