User Comments - auntie68

Posted on: 磁悬浮

@calkins: That was thoughtless of me, and (again) inexcusable. Sorry. I mean it.

Posted on: 磁悬浮

Dear shiqiangdan, I am so very sorry, I (very sincerely) didn't mean that YOU were the person behind the "douche bag"-kind of comments, you probably missed them because they were in fact deleted by the admins. Sorry. And I mean that, okay?

Jenny Zhu is TEN TIMES the woman I am, that's the truth, but like her, I am also an Asian woman, and I don't know what makes some people think that any Asian woman in the Year 2008 needs anybody to ride in to her defence with words which are hardly more noble than what Dave said. Again, I'm not referring to you (more apologies... I feel bad because you are one of the most sensible posters here). 

The one PRC poster (zhanglihua) who took a stand here made it very clear that she was NOT in favour of censorship, no matter how rude Dave's posts were. @turkeysub: Any comments?

I'm simply dismayed by the way a BB mob can get so self-righteous with a rude poster like Dave. When they themselves are behaving like little trolls (here I don't mean you, that's a promise). No difference, from where I am. But that doesn't excuse the fact that you, shiqiangdan, got caught up in my frustration. You of all people didn't deserve it, and I apologize unreservedly to you for my bad grace. Again, sorry.

Posted on: 磁悬浮

Anybody who answers rudeness with the insult, "Douche Bag!" doesn't rate very high with this stupid Auntie, okay, shiqiangdan?

Posted on: 磁悬浮

@shiqiangdan: Your CPOD profile says you're 16 years old, and I respect that. But when were you apppointed the "CPOD Warden"? 

If somebody like daizi wants to make a fool of himself using dodgy Mandarin, it's his choice, or if I want to make a fool of myself, it's our choice, as far as I can tell, until CPOD decides otherwise. There will be people like marcelbdt who will say, "But we are guests here, we should respect the host", and to people like marcelbdt, I say: I've never charged any of my friends USD$69 for the privilege of having been dinner guests (or houseguests, sometimes up to 6 weeks) at my flat before.., so when was the last time you (ie marcelbdt) charged your friends for the privilege of entering your home... and just how much did you decide to charge them? Just confused... it would be nice to know what the "moral high horse people" think...

Posted on: 磁悬浮

So far I've managed to refrain from joining in the fray against/for Dave. Well, I'm still glad that I didn't pile on to him. To me, the horrible graphic "douche bag" replies by those mindless people perched on their moral high horse were no better than his worst rudeness. Honestly!

Posted on: The 是...的 (Shì...de) Pattern

Hello CPOD. I hope that the overwhelmingly positive reactions you are getting from everybody on this will encourage you to build on this lesson. How about a lesson on 是的，好的，不会的 etc etc, which has mystified many learners? 

For what it's worth, my own way of explaining the 是。。。的 construction to friends is that it provides the same emphasis that is provided by "that" in English: 

我是在杭州学汉语的。
Wǒ shì zài Hángzhōu xué Hànyǔ de.

="It is/was at Hangzhou that I am/was learning Mandarin"

If the 是。。。的 is omitted, the sense of the phrase becomes "I am/was learning Mandarin in Hangzhou."

HTH.

Posted on: The More Than One Child Policy and Taking Trains

@matty: Thank you so much for answering my question about adoption! I wish you and your family -- including your new daughter -- a very happy life together. I myself am still working on being adopted... by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt... heh heh.

Posted on: The More Than One Child Policy and Taking Trains

Can anybody tell me how adopted children fit into this policy? I'm just wondering what kind of options the people of China would have to become foster parents, or to consider adopting.

In many countries, social workers consider it desirable -- all other things being equal -- to try and place children with people who are already parents, rather than with childless couples.

Thanks for this fascinating DA.

Posted on: Getting Internet at your Apartment

Oops, I didn't know the tones were different, thanks for clearing this up, Uncle changye... 

Posted on: Getting Internet at your Apartment

Ningmeng, it might be easier to understand if you remember that the character 差 by itself means, "discrepancy/ difference/ shortfall".

So -- literally --:

差不多 = "difference/shortfall - not so much", hence "not so difference" or "not so bad".

差不了 = "not different at all"/ "cannot be considered different". Cf. other "-不了" constructions, eg., 算不了 suan4 bu liao3 or 吃不了 chi1 bu liao3 etc.

差别 = "difference" (because 别 bie2 means "parting" or "point of divergence") Cf. 告别 gao4bie2 which means to take your leave from somebody, or make your farewells.

HTH.