User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: Argument over Garbage (2)

...I can feel round 2 coming on.

All about face ,eh? I mean if they are directly asked if it was their garbage and they deny it and are later caught out ,what is the situation with face then?

Some possible approaches.

1] fingerprints...either from their door handle or from a glass you've ganbei'd them with...and then from the garbage

2] search the garbage for some incriminating evidence

3] garbage cam...probably the most incriminating if they're caught on camera.

....but yeah,always easier to change your own reaction than modify someone elses behaviour.Learn to love the garbage I say [and charm the misunderstood old dears ].

Posted on: Chinese Characters and the History of Sex in China

Changye,

Thanks so much for going to all the trouble to explain all that.Wow;good detective work.I can tell you must have the most interesting library.Yeah,I noticed the shape of the cracks corresponding with that character.Cheers.

Posted on: Catch the Train

RJ,

Actually I did have a photo which shows how it is ,but I refrained from posting it last night as it was somewhat offensive to you intelligent American folk [even though I know you could take a joke].But if you can ignore the words,the link is here. Yeah,I'd love the ride.

Posted on: Chinese Characters and the History of Sex in China

Thanks changye;that's fascinating.

Posted on: 请 (Qǐng) - Please and Beyond

pin4qing3 to hire 聘请

ChinesePod qing3 wo3 qu4 gong1zuo4

ChinesePod 请我去工作

Easier job hire:?? jiu4 僦 ？？

? wo3 xiang3 qu4 jiu4 wo3 a1yi2 ??

? wo3 xiang3 qing3 jiu4 a1yi2 bang1 wo3 ??

Wo3 ke3yi3 qing3 ni3 bang1 wo3 fan1yi4 yi1 xia4 ma?

我可以请你帮我翻译一下马 ？

wo3 ke3yi3 qing3ni3 bang1mang2 ma ?

我可以请你帮忙吗 ？

Any corrections appreciated.

Posted on: 请 (Qǐng) - Please and Beyond

My guess:

yao1qing3  邀请 ...to invite

I want to invite you to my birthday party:

wo3 xiang3 qing3 ni3 [?? tan2jiao1 ??] wo3de sheng1 re4:

我想请你 [？谈交 ？？] 我的生日party

party: wan3hui4 晚会

wo3 xiang3 qing3 ta1men liang3 ge qu4 wo jia1 wanr2

我想请她们两个去我家玩儿

or could it have been chu1 出 ?

wo3 ke3yi3 qing3 ni3 tiao4 wu3 ma ?

我可以情你跳舞吗 ？

Posted on: Chinese Characters and the History of Sex in China

Thanks Pete for the Peter Hessler book reference.I'd love to get my hands on a copy.It sounds really interesting.

I read a fabulous yet tragic book called Chinese Cinderella [by Adeline Yen Mah ] a while ago.There was a passage in the book [starting at page 172 for anyone who's interested ] where her grandfather explains to her the beauty of Chinese characters by giving examples.His first example was the word character bei:

He explained how in the old days cowrie shells were used as units of money and how a row of shells would be stung together and that that is what the character was depicting.He then went on to explain the use of this character in other characters such as 买 and 卖 [sorry I don't have the traditional input ] ,the difference between these two characters and then how they could be combined to make the word business.

I would love a book or other source that could go through all the characters giving such a good explanation as this [the etymology etc ].Does the Peter Hessler book do this ? If not does anyone have a recommendation of a source that does ?

Posted on: Catch the Train

RJ,

btw,cattleprods still remind me of a line from Tootsie, which of course is American.hehe :) ...but I did love your joke,so keep 'em coming.Cheers mate.

Posted on: Chinese Characters and the History of Sex in China

changye,

That's fabulous.Once again you've come to the rescue.Interesting story.Yeah ,I was wondering what was written so thanks heaps for that :)

ps I realise what was on the oracle bones was the original characters ,and you have then translated to the modern characters,but how did you manage to do it ?

Posted on: Catch the Train

cattle prod?..good one RJ ;yeah,while we ride around on the roos,hehe :)