User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Can't Get a Taxi

打的 dǎdī (v. to take a taxi).  This term is also commonly used, and means the same as 打车 dǎchē (to take a taxi).

的 is a loan word from Cantonese. 的士 díshì (taxi) is what appears on the side of a Hong Kong taxi. I believe that it is a transliteration of the English 'taxi', right?   

Posted on: Can't Get a Taxi

In my city, every taxi is a European make (most commonly Volkswagon and Citroen) - why don't they use Chinese brands?  

Posted on: Can't Get a Taxi

Why is it that in many cities all the taxis are painted the same colour? (There are better answers than "Because the authorities dictate the colour scheme".)   

Why yellow? (eg. NY)

Why green? (eg. Kunming)

Why black? (eg. London) 

Why red? (eg. Beijing)  

Why is it that in some cities the taxis are left in their original colour scheme?  

Posted on: A Short Haircut

Hi Zhenlijiang

The terms in this diagram are a little formal - you wouldn't say this in casual speech. The terms a bloke needs are:

头顶 tóudǐng (top)

两边 liǎngbiān (sides)

后面 hòumiàn (back)

Also, bìnjiǎo (sideburns) can be useful.

Actually, a key question when having a haircut (both men and women) is whether you want 干洗还是水洗 ganxi haishi shui xi (dry wash or wet wash?) Do they do the 'dry wash' in Japan? You sit upright in your chair, they use a little water at a time, and you get a massage at the same time.

Posted on: A Short Haircut

糟糕 indeed! I once had an 8 RMB haircut that lasted an hour (I think I was shampooed three times) and included a head and shoulders massage. 2004 prices. But it is usually more expensive for women. :)

Posted on: Cats Are Cool

Okay, I have a cat, who has boarded with my sister since early August 2006. So is she still mine? Was she ever mine? She runs under the couch whenever I visit.

Posted on: Taxable Salary

Ah, I hadn't read your English translation before - now I see that you have translated 发票 as 'reimbursement'. Now I understand the logic but do not understand the Chinese! Are you saying that 发票 means 'reimbursement', at least in this context? I would not have guessed that, and again I have a problem with it, damn it.

The employer says to the employee 'if you bring me a genuine 发票 (obtained fraudulently) for 6,000 RMB we will deduct this from your total salary of 12,000 and take out less tax, because your taxable income is now actually 6,000 (98 RMB tax I think it was). So he gets 11,902 RMB in the hand, and uses 2,500 of this to pay his monthly rent. That is all fine. There is no actual reimbursement - unless you are saying that he is being reimbursed 6,000 for rent, 3,500 of which is fictional.

You could use the word reimbursement here if the 发票 and the rent were the same.

BTW I am not meaning to be smart about this, I do have some idea about the system. Sadly I had to take a fake receipt in just yesterday, required to meet the terms of my contract. No fake receipt, no pay. They even told me exactly how to get it. :)

Posted on: Taxable Salary

I am half-joshing. :) I have an acquaintance who was sort of detained for four hours, didn't actually get locked up. Just lots of discussion and eventually money solved the little problem. Er.. sorry, I mean that a fine was levied. To ease your curiosity it involved assault on a mobile phone - accidentally (?) someone knocked the phone out of someone's hand, it fell to the ground and broke. A scuffle ensued and one thing led to another.

I used to teach on the fifth floor of a building from where I was able to gaze into a gaol - it didn't look to bad from the outside. I'm guessing the food would be fairly basic. University canteen is bad enough and I actually have to pay for that.

Posted on: Taxable Salary

And just to clarify - I don't need a 发票 from my 房东 - maybe things are done differently way out here. :) The 发票 requirement seems to suggest that legally the rent allowance cannot exceed the actual rent paid. Then the underhandedness in the dialogue would make sense. And that is maybe why I was confused - I am not aware of that requirement here, and I have a very reputable Government employer. My better half on the other hand works for a private company and she gets cash in a brown paper bag. But with her it is the same; she gets a big tax-free rent allowance which reduces her taxable income. No 发票 required.

Posted on: Taxable Salary

I understand what you mean about the pay increase strategy - in the last round this is exactly what happened with me. I got a small increase in salary, but a larger increase in tax-free rent allowance.