User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: You First

alexyu_yxj,

You're Chinese is obviously way ahead of mine and you may well be right.I can see that 先生 is an appelation of respect meaning teacher or sir.But I thought bostonphil's question was an excellent one.While I'm sure that when you address someone with 先生 ,you are not literally saying that they are the first born,as it is a title of respect,and Chinese particularly always have such respect for their elders,one can't help suspect that originally this word was put together from the literal meaning of it's two component characters.I would love to hear others opinion on this.

Pete? Changye?

Sorry for the bolding,I'm having trouble with the editor and can't correct it.

Posted on: Illegal taxis

zhenlijiang,

Thanks for explaining that.So the di part is via a HK transliteration,and this has been chopped off/shortened from di shi and then has had da put in front of it.So this da,a very versatile little character,sometimes meaning hit,in this sense means to catch a di.

Oh well mate,that's history now.Why are you torturing yourself all over again? There's always South Africa to look forward to in 2010.Did you see any of the world cup in 2002 when it was in Japan[and Korea] ?

Posted on: Will you Marry Me?

emberswift,

gongxi nimen

ye,xie xie yin wei you have taught me a new word in ding hun.I knew ding4 meant reserve from the ellie lesson on table for 3 and hun to marry,so it makes sense that ding hun,to book or reserve a wedding is the chinese way of saying that you're getting engaged.

Have you seen the lesson on Happiness Candy which is here?

I hope you get an answer to your question soon,especially as it's so pertinent.

gong xi ye hao yun

Posted on: Illegal taxis

hmm,I wonder how 打的 became slang for a taxi.Maybe it was originally used in the sense of hit the road and clear out of here.

Posted on: Funny Business -- 搞笑， 好笑， 可笑

Are any of these programs allowing one to directly type pinyin,or do they all require copy and paste?

Posted on: Simple Electrical Stuff

peanut_china，

white crayon,white paper.Very good.Thanks mate.I won't forget that one in a hurry :)

Posted on: Simple Electrical Stuff

Looks like these Darwin awards candidates had no problem with         插进去：

Reminds me of the Zoolander[？动物园地儿？] gasoline [气油] fight[争] 这儿

Posted on: Simple Electrical Stuff

I've always found the Korjo[ here ] website helpful for working out which 转换插头 are needed for each country and also what voltages are used.

http://www.korjo.com/Adaptor-Guide.aspx

Specifically for 中国 here :

http://www.korjo.com/Adaptor-Guide.aspx#

Yeah,but a couple of the other issues are not only if the voltages are compatible ,but also whether the electrical safety standards have been met.I'd be interested in the standards Chinese electrical goods go by.

Some interesting vocab.座 seems to have taken the verb 坐 to sit,used it as a radical [or is it a phonetic as they're both zuo4] and made a similar character with similar meaning but this time a noun...seat

also 电压 有意思因为 we learn 压 meant pressure the other day in  血压 and now it obviously means electrical pressure...voltage.

didn't realise 白 could mean in vain.Is there any relationship to it's meaning white? Or is it just a homophone that also has the same character? I presume the latter to be true.I suppose we have the same in English.

I better watch my tones next time I ask for 虾 as I don't want to sound 傻,though I do find 1st and 3rd probably the easiest not to get mixed up.

Posted on: You First

Pete,

Thanks for correcting that.I thought it was wrong.I actually did have it in front of the verb originally,but before posting ,thought I would check it with google translater and it pumped out rubbish English [so I thought "garbage in,garbage out" ],and google translator made less of a dogs breakfast with having it the other way around,so I went with that.Just another reason it's invaluable having your guidance.Thanks mate :)

Posted on: You First

orkelm

Just for fun i'll have a stab:

这个怎么吃?

but hopefully someone more experienced will tell us