User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: Mudslide

Yeah, that must have been just awful. At least it's behind you now and it turned out ok. I guess if the phone networks were down, email/ IM was just as affected. I wonder if SMS would have a better chance of getting through. Still, you want to hear your loved one's voice, hey.

Posted on: Too Many Food Allergies

hehe, I was actually just hoping it would encourage you to come out and chat to me mate. Nice to see you around these days. :)

It's also good to have higher level guys like yourself dropping in to give a hand. Thanks.

Posted on: Too Many Food Allergies

Excellent lesson btw. Thankyou CPod. As usual you bring up some relevent social context and common misconceptions/attitudes and address them...misconceptions like 挑剔 and nerdy.

Posted on: Too Many Food Allergies

I think the biggest challenge in a situation like this is avoiding a hidden exposure to the allergen, particularly in a noisy restaurant. It would be challenging enough to try and explain in a noisy restaurant in a foreign language the importance of not having say any peanuts in your food, but to try and get the message across that there can be no exposure to peanuts whatsoever would be more difficult. Any tips on how to get this message across? ..not only no peanuts in the dish, but no peanut in any of the ingredients [such as a sauce], no cooking in peanut oil, and no utensils that have been used in other dishes that may contain nuts. I know I've asked a few questions above, but I think this is the most important, as communication wise it would be by far the most challenging and also most important, so if I can get just one answer, this would be the one I'd really appreciate.

Posted on: Too Many Food Allergies

I also wanna know if the guys own father is at risk of being offended [or will feel a loss of face] if it turns out he's the older of the two. I may have missed the point though. It's possible that age doesn't actually come into it [as it's not the "real relationship" where the age relationship between brothers does come into it..it's a term of respect]

Posted on: Too Many Food Allergies

where's xiaoliang when you need him and what can he report on these crucial issues?

Posted on: Too Many Food Allergies

supplementary question[s]. What if the guy doesn't know the girlfriends fathers age? Will he make it his business to find out first? If he hasn't had the chance beforehand, and he's left alone with the girlfriends father, will he ask his age before proceeding. What if they're the same age...do they go down to birthdates? hour of birth?

Posted on: Too Many Food Allergies

I'm a little confused about a point John made regarding the use of 伯父。 If I'm hearing correctly, it's not just a term of respect, but indeed it also indicates the girls father is older than his father. John went on to say that 叔叔 [fathers younger brother] is not as respectful but more widespread. If it is the case that these terms of respect depend on whether the person is older or younger than one's father, you'd think it would be used in roughly equal proportion. Can we assume the girl in this dialogue will address her boyfriends father as 叔叔？

Posted on: Too Many Food Allergies

I hear what you're saying mate about it being safer to just educate yourself. But I'm wondering why you would say:

"try to avoid discussing it"

...is this just to avoid potential confusion, or is there more to your comment than that? [ I guess one concern would be the other person asserting that they understand and then trying to encourage you to have a dish they say is ok but you don't trust because you cannot be sure of their level of understanding].

Posted on: Too Many Food Allergies

I find it interesting that Jenny actually went on to give an age bracket for 伯父...40-50 [or should that be 40's or 50's?]. Anyway. Let's say he's 50 and this couple are 男女朋友 for over a decade. Is he still called 伯父 in his 60's? Also would he be adressed differently if they get married? Does he become 爸爸？ Is there a universal rule? I guess the Chinese aren't going to go for " just call me Bob mate"