condensed, translucent , poncho, which is which

HONG KONG—Tens of thousands of protesters braved a typhoon threat and driving rain Monday, calling for Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying to resign and for the city government to fulfill its promise of direct elections, reflecting growing public discontent with government in this Chinese city.
Organizers said the annual rally, which marks the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from the U.K. to China, drew more than 100 organizations.
Despite a downpour from tropical storm Rumbia, thousands of protesters dressed in translucent ponchos marched from Victoria Park to the heart of the city's business district, chanting slogans such as "Universal ...

2011年托馬斯獲頒諾貝爾文學獎桂冠，得獎原因是：「因為透過他那簡練、透通的意象，我們以嶄新的方式體驗現實。」（“Because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality.”）

Pronunciation: /transˈlo͞osnt, tranz-/

Translate translucent | into German | into Italian

Definition of translucent

adjective

• (of a substance) allowing light, but not detailed images, to pass through; semitransparent:fry until the onions become translucent

Derivatives

translucence

noun

translucency

noun

translucently

adverb

Origin:

late 16th century (in the Latin sense): from Latin translucent- 'shining through', from the verb translucere, from trans- 'through' + lucere 'to shine'

poncho

Syllabification: (pon·cho)

Pronunciation: /ˈpänCHō/

Definition of poncho

noun (plural ponchos)

• a garment of a type originally worn in South America, made of a thick piece of woolen cloth with a slit in the middle for the head.
• a waterproof garment in the style of a poncho worn as a raincoat.

Origin:

early 18th century: from South American Spanish, from Araucanian

which is which
What particular one is what particular one, or what is the difference between different ones. For example, These twins look so much alike I can't tell which is which, or Both our raincoats are tan; do you know which is which? This idiom was first recorded about 1412.

which is which 
Meaning

'Which is which?' - often expressed as a question, asking for help in distinguishing two similar things or people.

Origin

'Which' is an extremely ancient English word, the modern spelling deriving from the Old English 'hwilc', which dates from the 8th century. There was a myriad of other spellings for 'which' - the OED lists no less than 64 of them - for example 'wheche', 'quhilche', 'wych' and so on.

Likewise, 'which is which' is one of the oldest English phrases still in daily use. The earliest form of 'which is which' in print is found in the 14th century Northumbrian poem Cursor Mundi, which uses a 'quilk' spelling:

Wel sal he cun knau quilk es quilk.

The first person to record 'which is which' in modern English was William Shakespeare, who used the expression in several of his plays, including Macbeth, 1605:

What is the night? Almost at oddes with morning, which is which.

Almost immediately after that line, Shakespeare gave the stage direction 'Enter three Witches'. He didn't however go on to make the play on words 'which witch is which?' - that had to wait until the 20th century. The first example I can find occurred, appropriately, on Halloween 1931, in the Wisconsin newspaper The Appleton Post-Crescent:

There's nothing like a Halloween moon to make people wonder which witch is witch.