Posted on: A Special Christmas Gift

thanks Chris. I'd have to go back and have another listen now, but what you're saying makes perfect sense and I'm sure you are right. Cheers mate :)

Posted on: Flu Vaccination

oh, hehe, When you first mentioned it your avatar was different, and then when you changed to this one it did look familiar but I couldn't remember posting it myself. Gotcha [remember that exchange well now that I see it] ， and thanks for clearing that up, 哎呀，老年痴呆来了！

Posted on: Flu Vaccination

Yes, Clark Gable, well done mate

Ok, well we discussed Kermit in love tangle 3, but I'm still struggling to remember why you'd say that's my pic?

Posted on: Flu Vaccination

"头号语录是什么？"

。。。实在我亲爱的，我不关心

"我会回来!"

。。。第二十二

"Here's looking at you, 小朋友."

。。。哈哈，很幽默。 第六

“hope you didn't mind my borrowing your Kermit pic ”

。。你太客气我朋友。 当然你很欢迎。。。可是我我忘了“Kermit pic”。。你肯定是我的？ 什么Kermit pic ？

Posted on: 不能说的事儿 2

中文播客又发展非常好的故事，非常有趣的对话。几乎所有的中文播客对话有蛮幽默的大逆转。。我很享受这种文学技巧

我喜欢那样张总说“理解”。。一点儿慢的，一点儿强调她是通情达理，所以没想到以后发现她也可能打算勾引小刘的老公。。不可思议！

接下来会发生什么？ 我很期待发现。。。

Posted on: 不能说的事儿 2

我猜Mark回答第一次评论。我猜他的意思是对话很长因为性很小

Posted on: Flu Vaccination

呵呵，没错。 顺便， 我最近看到那个疤面的语录是第四十六在电视节目叫做“二十到一：五十到一：伟大电影语录”。

Posted on: Flu Vaccination

hehe, I think you're continuing to agree with me.

"The reversal becomes real"

...absolutely. But even then, you can usually still spy the original meaning of the words and how it's current usage has changed.

"one needs to take heed of the real meaning rather than the original literal meaning"

..agreed.

Actually mate, is not a bad example. Yes, it can have the opposite meaning in a certain context, a certain tone of voice. But even then there is no escaping the literal meaning of the word. One is still cognisant of it, right? Couldn't I play the dumb guy in that situation and after being bopped on the nose by the guy, say something like "but I thought you said we were mates?"....an audience would recognise both my folly but also some veracity in what I said. I guess I'm saying yes the meaning really can change over time, it's usage can, but there's still the ghost of it's original meaning. Maybe this is largely forgotten, not in the conscious, but if you stop and listen to the words surely there is a hint of friendliness there, a nice form of address. Let's put it another way, if sniffling little brat also came to just mean kid, a long way down the track it still may not sound so nice even if said in the most affectionate way. Let me give you a hypothetical scenario. If both sniffling little brat and small friend both came to mean kid and nothing else, would we not, even a long way down the track, get a different feeling from the use of these 2 terms even though they were equivalent in usage and meaning?

Also, in this case xiao still means small and pengyou still means friend right..so it's not like we're talking about some distant original meaning of these words. It's just the application of the two words together and how this just is used to mean kid.

Finally I would concede that some words really have evolved over the centuries to the point that they are far removed from their original usage and not recognisably related without detailed etymological research. But I don't spy such a distance in the case of xiao pengyou.

Posted on: Flu Vaccination

mate,

I feel your use of "actual" just supports my point. There is no escaping the fact that words, whatever the language, still have a literal meaning, no matter how far removed the idiomatic meaning has moved over time, and how little heed is paid to the original meaning.

Posted on: Flu Vaccination

小朋友... "there's no meaning of little friend at all"

I'd like to question this a little. I understand that it means kid and that is how it's used. I also understand the difference between literal and idiomatic. To say "at all" though seems to me to be a bit far. I find it hard to believe that idiomatic meanings are so completely divorced from their original literal meanings...that there is no trace of that meaning left even if that's not what you're trying to say, and I think this is a good example of that. I know I'll be shot down for saying this and be told I'm outright wrong, but I just wanted to express that view.