軀寒老薑？No, thanks.

Today I came across a sign that read 軀寒老薑in the market after lunch. It was supposed to be驅寒老薑 – “mature ginger that drives away the cold”, but the way it was written made it “mature ginger that makes the body cold” instead.

This is used to keep you warm. (Source:https://commons.wikimedia.org)

The character驅 coincidentally corresponds to the English word drive in many of its uses. We can drive cars (驅車) and livestock (驅牛羊), activate hardware with device drivers (驅動程式, literally driver program) and drive away (驅逐) unwanted persons or even demons (驅魔). In the navy there are 驅逐艦 (destroyers), given their main role is to escort more important ships like aircraft carriers rather than destroying stuff with massive firepower, the Chinese name might be considered more accurate.

The character軀 is much less versatile. Common vocabulary items include 身軀, 軀殼 (both mean body, but the latter usually used in contrast with the soul) and 軀幹 (torso). It can combine with 捐(to donate) to form 捐軀, which has nothing to do with donating organs or leaving the body for anatomic studies, it means sacrificing ones life.