In Chinese, pretty much every noun uses a measure word. "A person" is yi ge ren, which is literally "one (measure word) person". Ge is the most generic measure word, so I guess it could also be translated as "one unit of person". The way that measure words are categorized is interesting. Zhang is the measure word for something flat--yi zhang zhuozi for "a 'slice' of table", yi zhang piao for "a 'slice' of ticket" (or any other paper-like object). For animals, zhi is usually used, so yi zhi gou is "an (animal-unit) of dog". One of my favorites is tiao, which is seemingly used for anything longer than it is wide. This includes yi tiao sheng ("a length of rope"), yi tiao lu ("a length of road"), you tiao, the name for a length of fried dough sometimes eaten for breakfast, and even yi tiao yu ("a length of fish"). I've heard that in China many people don't consider fish real animals (I guess this is analogous to pescetarians who think of themselves as vegetarians), so when I first learned about yi tiao yu, I thought it was telling of this fact. But then my friend told me that tiao can apply to other animals as well, like in the alternative to the yi zhi gou already mentioned, yi tiao gou: "a length of dog". If I wasn't already a pescetarian, it would make me think twice before buying one of those sausages hanging in front of the little shop down the street.
