Talk:不法利润

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不法利润

• Moved from WT:RFV since this is clearly widespread and a question of idiomaticity. DAVilla 16:08, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

sum of parts: 不法 (illegal) + 利润 (profits). -- A-cai 12:33, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Can it actually mean "ill-gotten gains"? If so, it wouldn't be sum-of-parts to an English speaker. -- Visviva 12:35, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

According to my understanding, "ill-gotten gains" is an idiomatic way to say "illegal profits" in English. To my mind, the key question is whether 不法利润 is idiomatic in Chinese. My subjective answer would be no. However, opinions may vary. The subjective part of this is the term 不法. One might argue that this adjective is idiomatic in the sense that 法 can mean a variety of things. However, I believe there is a phenomenon whereby an idiomatic word can become so commonplace, that it no longer truly qualifies as an idiom. I believe this to be the case here. -- A-cai 13:07, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, ill-gotten gains are generally those gotten immorally rather than illegally. But I wouldn't have expected 不法 to have that meaning. (perhaps it does?) -- Visviva 06:28, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, 不法 is only used for illegal. -- A-cai 11:37, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

• Delete not idiomatic or even particularly common. Kappa 00:58, 27 January 2008 (UTC)