User Comments - Right-Wingnut

Posted on: Beware of Professional Beggars

When the economy improves, these people do not suddenly become employable - in general they are not able to 'work their way out of the situation' as was suggested. Economic downturns create beggars, but the reverse is not true.

Posted on: Beware of Professional Beggars

Does that mean that you believe that these people will suddenly get up and get a job when the handouts stop? You for one don't appear to be someone who would employ one of them out of generosity.

Do you really understand the psyche of someone for whom all hope is lost?

I am tired of the belief that the economy comes before people.

Posted on: What's Your Name?

Generally you don't use shì to describe something by adding an adjective.

You generally use shì only when you equate the subject (a noun) with the object (another noun), ie. when you are saying they are one and the same.

Tā shì wǒde péngyou. He is my friend.

Here you are saying that the subject 'he', a (pro)noun, and the object 'my friend' (another noun) are in fact the same thing. It is like saying 'He = my friend'.

But you can't 'equate' a noun with an adjective.

In English you say 'I am tired'. In Mandarin you say 'Wǒ hěn lèi'. Or you can use another adverb of degree, such as tài.

You can't say "I = tired", you are merely describing the subject, so you don't use shì.

This is complicated by the "shì de" pattern, but that is another lesson.

Posted on: American TV Shows in China

Well, in my comment about US content, I wasn't referring to the content of just this show. I was referring to the entire site content. So the reference to Hollywood is not pertinent.

I'm not arguing that there shouldn't be more US content than any other country. What I am arguing is that there shouldn't be more US content than all other (non-Chinese) countries combined.

Posted on: American TV Shows in China

Doesn't this belong in a culture show, and not Qingwen?

And why does it seem to me that when shows are made about foreign countries, its about 2/3 US and 1/3 the rest of the world lumped together. Could we get some perspective here please.

Posted on: Interviews: Obama or Romney?

The only voting system more ridiculous than the US presidential voting system is the one used for the Eurovision Song Contest. I think all outsiders rate both as a farce.

Posted on: Love Tangle 3: One Night Stand

Then you are judging half the Western population as 'horrible'.

Posted on: The New Intern

Any language rule that does not gel with common usage can be broken. Language changes with usage, and I see these rules simply as someone trying to impose their personal preference on others.

Some time ago I listened to a series of podcasts by a John McWhorter. The title was something like 'Our Bastard English Language". He pointed out that key time periods we have in our heads for when certain changes happened in the English language are probably way out. These were merely the times when authors deigned to write in the way people had spoken for centuries beforehand. For example, he suggests that many changes in English grammar which have been attributed to the Norman invasion were more likely a result of the Norse invasion a few centuries before. They just didn't make it into the written language for centuries.

So, who is going to tell me not to f....ng split my infinitive? :)

Posted on: The New Intern

"That's the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put."

Posted on: The New Intern

I wouldn't mind an answer to this as well.