User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Introducing New Voices

I'm guessing your an East Coast boy, come on 'fess up. Wikipaedia says it was originally an East Coast term and didn't spread to the rest of the country till around 2000. Then it was after 2000 the term got associated with black ink. It is the accounting metaphor I have a particular problem with - no problem you calling the shopping spree Black Friday as long as there are connotations of genuine tragedy. All I'm saying is that if it does not actually signify actual tragedy it cheapens the expression used by many people to remember .. such as the Black Friday fires in Victoria on Jan 13 1939 when 71 people died.

Posted on: Hospital Visits and Prescription Medication

'听说有的国家就不是这样。一个人去医院也没问题，付钱，拿药什么的都有护士带着，帮你完成。' 

In recent surveys I have seen, Australia is supposed to have the best health system in the world, or near to the best.  In my experience after seeing a doctor we don't have nurses taking you to get your prescribed drugs. If you are in a hospital out-patients, there may be a pharmacy in the building (that is, like the Chinese system).  But generally we are only in a hospital out-patients for an emergency.  Mostly, for regular doctors visits, you have to go to find a private pharmacy near the doctors surgery, or go to your usual pharmacy near home.  I wonder which country is being talked about here?  

Posted on: Hospital Visits and Prescription Medication

Hi Mark

In my experience there are triage nurses hanging around in the entrance - they ask 'What's wrong with you?' if you look lost. :) Or there is a desk you go to where you discuss your symptoms with maybe a group of three or four nurses (all very public). They send you to the appropriate clinic. If you know what you want you can go straight in to the department you want, & buy a ticket to see a doctor. The difference is that all the specialties are there, if you want to see a specialist. If not, you just take a ticket for the general clinic. In one hospital I used to go to the general clinic was called 'family medicine'. The other difference is that in China (in my experience) you don't wait long. This is because there are so many doctors - they are paid a pittance, so the system can afford to have many more doctors on tap than we have in the West.

Posted on: Hospital Visits and Prescription Medication

I have been to hospitals for consultations in Hangzhou, Chengdu, Dalian, Kunming, E'mei Shan City (in all probably about 20 visits counting taking other people) and find the system generally efficient.  I am puzzled why a Chinese person would find it difficult.  Lack of experience with the Western system for comparison?! Maybe there is a culture of being nervous about hospitals?  

I have been to see heart specialists (and a dentist which is another 'specialty') in a Hangzhou hospital, and this is where the Chinese system shines.  Without an appointment I went (alone), registered, and waited about 20 minutes each time.  The process of getting your prescription and picking up your drugs is way more efficient than in most cases in Australia - it is all there in the same place. 

I did go with a native speaker the very first time, to learn the ropes (in Hangzhou).  The system seems to be much the same all over (or at least in the four provinces I have experience of.) But since then I have gone many times on my own without difficulty. 

In all my visits for general consults I have never waited more than about five minutes, without an appointment. (Maybe the lesson photo is actually a betting shop?  A stock exchange?)  

But this is one of my all time favourite topics - thanks for the lesson, ChinesePod.  

Posted on: Introducing New Voices

What is Di Lu's name in 汉语? (My obsession with names.) Lu I wonder .. 露? or possibly 璐? For a woman. But Di - I don't know.

Posted on: Introducing New Voices

I just bought some marshmallows here - they are gluten free because made from corn (in Australia almost every sweet is made with wheat). Which makes me wonder if marshmallows in the US are also made from corn.

If so, the yams and corn marshmallows start to look slightly less bizarre.. ok. it is still bizarre. Speaking of bizarre, some American friends came around recently bringing some nice cheese, and then covered it with some kind of jam (Americans say 'jelly'?). I was literally speechless. Etiquette question: should I (i) say I don't like cheese (a lie); (ii) say I don't like jam (another lie); (iii) say that I am under doctors orders not to eat either cheese or jam; (iv) discretely scrape the jam off?

Posted on: Surfing the Web Chinese Style

'“说一是一；说二是二” is a 成语 meaning "to mean what one says"

“所意思：一说而死儿” is my made-up hack of the 成语, where the pinyin is close but not quite, and the meaning changed to "that means: a word said and a son dies"

Clever, at least the punning is clever. :) I didn't notice that at first, I was struggling with whether you really meant that 'a son would die'. Seemed a bit harsh - in our society 'sticks and stones will break our bones but names will never hurt me'. I better be more careful round here. :)

There has been a lot of talk here on ChinesePod recently about 成语. I am wondering if '“说一是一；说二是二” is really 成语, or if it is 俗语？ Any thoughts?

Thanks for the link for your name.

Posted on: Surfing the Web Chinese Style

Hi 丘宏量

Are you new around here? Are you a native speaker? Your Chinese is way beyond mine - I have trouble reading the sense of what you wrote, in total. (Care to translate?) My father taught me... I get.

(Sorry about the probing questions but we get excited when native speakers come on board.) Your name is too Chinese to be a laowai. :) I know another 丘先生.. I am interested in Chinese names. But I particularly like yours if only because it is easy to write. :) What can you tell us about your name?

Posted on: Introducing New Voices

Okay .. I am used to having my leg pulled by Americans .. but Black Friday has BAD connotations, throughout all history.  Even the shopping spree in the US .. the Black Friday connotation was originally BAD.  Had to be... and so I checked on Wikipaedia (where else?) which confirms that the term originally conveyed something bad .. the idea of the red ink turning to black is very recent.  Who in their right mind believes that the general public will be excited by an accounting concept?  Soooo lame!  But also so wrong.  All of the serious events in history that have been labelled Black Friday are cheapened by this stupid commercial expression applying to the sales.  We can only hope it will be quickly forgotten, so I will stop posting about it.  

Posted on: Surfing the Web Chinese Style

In Australia they are called 'weasel words'.