User Comments - RJ

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

I guess that 破车pò chē is like saying a "hooptie" or a "beater", ghetto cruiser, or clunker, meaning an old broken down car. It is also my recollection that in China, the QQ is considered exclusively a girly car. No self respecting Chinese male would be caught dead driving a QQ, especially not to pick up females. The newer models seem to cater to this as the picture above shows, they look like pink smiling bugs. Small, sweet, and sassy. Kind of like 撒娇 sā jiāo on wheels.

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

I had the same thought. 保时捷 (Bǎo shí jié) is Porsche. Go figure.

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

Hi Rachel,

Some whine with that cheese? (sorry, couldn't resist). I happen to like the more colorful, somewhat tongue in cheek, sometimes a bit over the top lessons. China is a pressure cooker of the "nouveau riche" (or even the "nouveau just doing ok") and the disproportionate number of narcissistic women that the culture turns out , so they are also culturally relevant. If that matters. As to why the sudden uptick in such lessons, I could point to the fact that the "creepy guy" lesson generated over 200 comments, some of which called for it to be made into a series, and suggest that Cpod is responding to what sells. I tend to believe the lesson pipeline is planned too far in advance for that recent event to have had much impact however, and the more likely explanation is that these things just tend to come in waves. See the "love tangle" series of a couple years ago. There are lesson genres that I don't like (my hard cheese) and I usually just skip them. There will be plenty more where those came from. What I don't want to see happen is censorship, or for Cpod to become overly concerned with being PC, as it would likely stunt artistic expression. This lesson may seem silly, but it did offer opportunities to introduce novel language and phrases. Lessons such as "A crazy Ex-girlfriend" may seem to contain "unreasonable, deranged women" to you, but in fact, if you spend any time in China, you will no doubt over-hear, or hear of, such escapades. Anyway its all schtick, "Saturday Night Live" type parody. If it makes me creepy to like it, well so be it. We all have our limits. I can not stomach the show "Family Guy" for example. That is just bad taste for absolutely no purpose other than to be in bad taste. I don't see that here. Anyway you spoke your mind and the purpose of a discussion is to give us all an opportunity to grow. You have made us think, as Tal said, and hopefully we have made you think as well. At least you have answered the age old question - "do chickens have teeth?"

Posted on: Do You Live Alone?

The Expansion sentence: "他在上海住了五年", means he lived in SH for five years. To indicate he is still there after 5 years of living in SH, you would have to say:

他在上海住了五年了

if I understand the magic of the double 了 correctly

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/the-double-%E4%BA%86-le-phenomenon

Posted on: Homeschooling

"I know many Americans will rail against this notion, as it challenges the entire philosophy on which the nation was founded"

Actually I think you would find many Americans agreeing with you here, except maybe some of the rich ones. All public schools are not bad. Anecdotal news stories are not the standard, although I am rather disappointed in our system. Success comes from within. Teach your child to think, all else will come from that. I insulated my son from nothing, but took the time to discuss the right or wrong of all things encountered. (instead of playing golf) To my amazement, he listened. Now in his presence, I am the one that feels like the mischievous child. (he is 24 now).

Posted on: A Detained Package

"Mooncakes often contain egg yolks or meat as a filling. In general, they will be refused entry as an agricultural hazard when originating from countries with current outbreaks of avian flu (HPAI/H5N1), Exotic Newcastle Disease (END), or other livestock diseases."

Can't you just say "No worries mate" and carry on?

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1155/~/importing-mooncakes

Posted on: A Detained Package

yes, it runs very deep. I think they find our direct style boorish and rude, but business cares not about anybody's feelings in the west. On time and under budget doesn't happen if nobody knows what the hell is really going on. At least that's the theory. Management has little sympathy for any "cultural mumbo-jumbo". "They're just going to have to man up and get with the program. Facts are facts and the bottom line is the bottom line". Easier said than done in China. But its great fun being in the middle.

Posted on: A Detained Package

I have worked in SH as an engineer as well. I feel your pain when you speak of half-assed patches, but this unfortunately is not limited to China. I would love to know what things chemical are going on in SH.

Posted on: A Detained Package

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. The Chinese like to be very vague, and often leave out what is obviously critical to you, based on an initial question. Also if you ask 3 questions, you only get an answer to one. I dont know why. I hope you get an answer. I can only guess. Years under communist rule has made them more cautious? The less said the better? They also have a different sense of entitlement than westerners do. The educational system may have something to do with that. The Chinese are used to being told the way things are and what to do. They dont question things that dont make sense, they just accept them. Resistance is futile. They dont seem to be too concerned with what will happen tomorrow either, solve today's problem today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. This also drives me crazy. Once I point out that if we do something a certain way it will cause a problem down the road, they say oh, ok, what do you want to do then, but they would have been perfectly happy solving that problem when it came up. No prevention, no strategic thinking. At least it seems this way. Again, they are not used to thinking this way, the boss is always right. They can not point out potential problems because its like saying you missed this boss and he will lose face. I suppose there are a lot of reasons, and yea, its cultural. It takes some getting used to. If you dont ask (specifically) they wont tell you. Not even if a piano is about to fall on your head. At least it seems so. And they feel no need to share plans with you (even though they involve you) until they are underway. What are we missing? Hundreds of cultural queues I suppose. I have found the Chinese to be extremely clever people, but you have to know how to get the answers you need, or you lose, and its your fault. Part of it is language, but there is a lot more to it than that. It is one of the things that makes China interesting however. Every day is a chess game. Good luck. And if anybody has a better answer, I would love to hear it. Mr Pasden?

Posted on: Finding the Office Building

mw is measure word