Love Returns Home
This Family Mart ad reads:
> 爱 ♥ 回家 [literally, “love” ♥ “return home”]
The character 回 has been converted into a little house, presumably because it’s a lot easier to do with 回 than with 家!
The ad is for a charitable group which helps poverty-stricken children get an education. More info (in Chinese) here. (The video on that page reminds me of the new free 农村生活 content in AllSet Learning’s updated Picture Book Reader iPad app.)
In case you’re wondering how one should understand the phrase “爱 ♥ 回家” grammatically, 爱 is a noun here, so it means “love returns home” rather than “[someone] loves to return home.” Ah, Chinese grammar and its flexible parts of speech…
I don’t think I’ll ever understand Chinese grammar.
But wait, what does “Love returns home” mean? Is it like a “charity begins at home” thing? I see that the phrase was also used as the title of a sitcom in Hong Kong, too — is there any relation?
Kind of funny that 回 is the one that got turned into a house when 家 is actually a pictorial representation of the concept!