User Comments - Purrfecdizzo

Posted on: Commuting Options

My opinion is that many Chinese people (but not all) are not as sensitive to careful driving as what I have come to expect from living in the USA. I have seen lots of crazy driving here.

Posted on: Commuting Options

As far as 汽车站 is concerned, I have only heard it used to describe a bus station.

I also hear 车牌 used (I think these are the right characters, but Im not 100% sure) to describe what I would think of as a regular bus stop, as opposed to a larger bus station. I have heard 汽车站 used to describe both the little bus stop, and the larger (long distance) bus station.

Posted on: Commuting Options

After looking at what I wrote, I see that maybe I added information that I did not need to add. The examples I gave were all things to take into consideration when evaluating whether the buses in a city were overcrowded or not. This is actually outside the scope of what the person asked, so I can understand the confusion. Plus, I was giving the type of information that most people have anyway. Im sorry about the confusion, in the future, I will think carefully before posting an answer.

Posted on: Commuting Options

I have traveled to many cities in China, and I can say that not all cities are the same. Some cities are more congested than others. In Baoding, I would say that it is actually not as bad as some of the other cities I have been to. I think that population density also plays a role, but also if people are able to ride bikes. There are some places where bikes are not allowed. In Baoding, there are peak riding times. Normally, the buses are crowded around lunch or rush hour, but less so during other times. It is very difficult to compare because so many factors play a role, and circumstances can change over the course of time.

Posted on: Name-Calling, Chinese-Style

What about the chicken example... What if we were dealing with a statue or figurine made of iron of a chicken, would we still use 一只铁公鸡?

Posted on: Name-Calling, Chinese-Style

I was looking over these example sentences and I noticed that the measure words for each example are those used for animals, but in some cases, we are not actually talking about animals. This is interesting to me because, I know that if I call someone a pig in English, I would mean it figuratively, not literally. The way sentences are constructed here, it would appear that the person is literally a pig, but of course, this isn't the case. The next example is even more interesting, because we are talking about 'iron rooster' but there is no such animal, but the animal measure word is used. Because of this, I think the emphasis must be on the fact that we are dealing with a real animal that is similar to metal. A real iron chicken! Of course, this isn't the case, but that is how it appears to be expressed in the language, so different from English.

Anyway, I said all that because I have another question... Because of this, if I called a Chinese person a pig in Chinese have a greater impact than calling an English speaking person a pig in English? I would think it would, but I think about the Chinese language and Chinese culture from an English speaker's perspective, which in my experience, seems somewhat useless.

Any thoughts?

George

Posted on: Name-Calling, Chinese-Style

opps- forgot...

那个/这个-量词-名词

that/this- measureword- noun

Posted on: Name-Calling, Chinese-Style

oh, and one more... now that I think of it...

3. can I use the 那个/这个-量词-名词 in situations that do not pertain to compliments or insults? is it sensible to do so?

Posted on: Name-Calling, Chinese-Style

I was listening to this, and there was a part when Ken was talking about 'trying to get blood out of a stone', but I normally would use this expression when talking about a situation where resources do not exist. For example, a broke friend owes me money, I might say, 'getting my money from him is like trying to get blood from a stone'.

Anyway, this isn't the main reason I want to post. After listening to this, I was a bit puzzled, because I don't think I have encountered the 你/这个-那个/名词 pattern before, so I have some questions about this;

1. Can this be used for talking about non-human objects as well as human objects?

2. It was mentioned that when Amber used the construction to describe ken as handsome, it is considered sarcastic. I am curious as to the degree of sarcasm, and also, does this characteristic extend to other usages as well?

I guess that is it for now. Thanks, George

Posted on: Commuting Options

I can also attest to hearing 汽车 used for bus, but only in situations where the context is absolutely clear, as it can be confused with cars.