User Comments - auntie68
auntie68
Posted on: Bumming a Smoke
January 15, 2008 at 1:31 PMDear changye, as the "Off-Topic Auntie" of the CPOD bb, I am cringing now (for myself). But I also agree 100% with you on the way the Internet provides a benign -- and very human -- channel for some very human feelings. Thanks for being gracious about all my "show-off" geekiness, I've never had anything but a sure feeling that you are being kind and appreciative. Ciao -- Zia
Posted on: Too Picky
January 15, 2008 at 2:27 AMI see. I think you could be right, in that it boils down to the quirks of "high frequency daily conversation". I am thinking of a number of "set phrases" where the three de's are missing: Eg. 读书很用功， 做事有条不紊， 说话有礼貌 etc etc It is possible that you might not need the 的／地／ 得 because the verb 买衣服 has been "nominalized" in the construction. But since I can't explain my (intuitive) preference for the CPOD version -- adding any of the three de's just feels wrong to me --, I'm just very glad that Amber is out there!
Posted on: Singapore
January 15, 2008 at 1:55 AMYay! Thanks, obitoddkenobi. Okay, no more posting for now (phew!), I have to pick up the Stunt Toddler from his pre-school in a bit, must get ready. Yesterday he came back from school -- Day 6 of formal schooling -- singing a "Chinese" song. I think it's Chinese, but I'm not sure. The words sound like, "ji ji ji... zha zha zha" and he does some cute finger movements. I love his Chinese teacher for going the extra mile to make him comfortable with Mandarin (he only hears English and Tagalog at home).
Posted on: Bumming a Smoke
January 15, 2008 at 1:40 AMHave to say, although I am a non-smoker, my sympathies -- and my sense of humour -- are with aert and the other proponents of "the other side". Before I became a photographer-bum, I was a professional conference organizer for a number of years. Once I was the way-too-junior "lead organizer" of a 2-day meeting in (doggedly non-smoking) Singapore. One of the biggest stars at that meeting was Fidel Ramos, then a former President of the Philippines, who was famous for loving his cigars. Pres Ramos' Chief of Staff was great, he brought up the smoking thing himself, and told me everything would be fine. When this VIP arrived at the hotel, my boss hissed into my ear, "Don't let him light up! The press is here!" just about the time the hotel's conference executive just about spat the exact same words into my other ear. Yikes. What was I supposed to do? Smack the cigar out of President Ramos' hand if he lit it? President Ramos did all the hand-shaking and photo-calls, but he also took out a cigar and went on to play with it, putting it in his mouth, sniffing it, looking at it as if he was deciding to light it, fumbling in his safari jacket pockets for a light etc etc. My boss' face turned grey, the hotel rep looked like she was about to faint -- that cigar was all they could see during those long moments -- but I was smiling and trying my best not to laugh, because the situation was so absurd, when suddenly El Presidente winked at me and... put the cigar back into his pocket. I loved his joke! My boss nearly had an infarction that day, but it was worth it because it put everything in perspective for me, and I had a light and happy heart the rest of that gruelling day.
Posted on: Too Picky
January 15, 2008 at 1:07 AMIn this context, the construction 买衣服 functions as a verb which can be translated (clumsily) as, "to buy clothes". The 衣服 here is descriptive, but its function in the phrase is to qualify the main verb 买, rather than as the main object of the sentence.
Posted on: Too Picky
January 15, 2008 at 12:59 AMHello heruilin. IMHO, the 的时候 is not necessary or appropriate here because the 很挑剔 is functioning as an adverb that qualifies 买, the verb. Not as an adjective that qualifies 女朋友, the subject, or 衣服, the object. Cheers, Auntie
Posted on: Singapore
January 15, 2008 at 12:28 AMdwsmith1972, I hope you don't get too caught up in my "past tense/present tense" distinction. Just remember that English parts of speech, broken down, aren't a precise fit with Chinese parts of speech. Eg. Accepting that 不错 means, "not bad", if you are asked, "Well, how was yesterday's meeting?" the answer doesn't change to 没错 simply because the meeting took place yesterday, it would still be 不错. Because to a Chinese brain, you are actually being asked, "Yesterday's meeting, how do you describe it?". If you have Chinese friends, and you get to meet their mothers (who may not be so fluent in English), you'll be familiar with the way Chinese-speakers tend to use "didn't have" when they mean "don't have". Btw, am I ever going to bump into a CPODdie with a birthdate earlier than my "1968"? Hmph. There's lydia1981, now dwsmith1972, it makes me feel so old.
Posted on: Singapore
January 15, 2008 at 12:15 AMBonjour, dwsmith1972 and obitoddkenobi, What makes "没错 vs 不错" so tricky is a subtle (but important) difference between these two words of negation. You really do need Amber for this! But if you can't wait, here is Auntie's "cheap n dirty" way of trying to figure it out: The sense I get is that 没 (mei2) conveys a tiny sense of the past tense, whereas 不 (bu4)... doesn't. Eg. 他不喝酒 (ta1bu4he1jiu3) means "he doesn't drink", but 他没喝酒 (ta1bu4he1jiu) means "he didn't drink". So 没错, in the context that Jenny used it, means (literally) "[you] weren't wrong/bad". On the other hand, 不错 means (again, literally) "[it] isn't wrong/bad]". To strengthen 没, you can add the complement 有(you3) in order to get 没有. This word 有 seems to have two functions: One is to connote ownership or possesion; a plain old verb (Eg. 我有两个男朋友 I have two boyfriends). The other function is as a complement which conveys -- again -- a hint of the past tense (Eg. 有没有刷牙？ 有！ Did you brush your teeth? Yes I did!). I'm not sure the grammarians -- or CPOD -- would approve of this explanation, but it works for me. In order to strengthen 不, you use 是 (shi4). Never 有. You can run into confusion here because parts of speech in English aren't always used in the same way in Chinese. Hence, to say that somebody is poor (using a negative construction), you can say, "他没有钱“ ("he doesn't have money“) or “他不是有钱人“ ("he's not a person with money", which sounds awkward). I think that what Chinese heritage speakers like me do is: think in terms of 没有 and 不是. If the construction requires a 有 somewhere, we'd go for 没. If 是 seems the way to go, we'd negate it with a 不. Now we all probably need Amber to wade in and rescue us, but you can go and try this out yourself and see if it works for you. All the best, Auntie
Posted on: Bumming a Smoke
January 14, 2008 at 11:01 AMOuch! If it makes anybody feel better, xiaohu is no show-off. His Mandarin is very advanced, but he spends time in all the levels, and many questions that I myself was thinking of asking, were answered for me because he was not too proud to pose the question. Slipping (unconsciously) into Chinese characters or French or German or Japanese etc etc is something that can happen to anybody who is studying a foreign language. Peace -- Auntie
Posted on: Singapore
January 15, 2008 at 1:36 PMI wish! No, the bug-eyed child in the new avataris not a new client, it is my nephew, the Stunt Toddler (aged 30 months, minus a few days). For the moment, 6 days into his formal education , I am his daily "school bus" and "after school programme". This is a pleasure for me, because I have been spending a lot of regular, scheduled, time with S.T. since he was 8 months old, when I was first appointed his "Chief Protocol Officer". The world looks fresh and different in the company of a Stunt Toddler...