User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: 新能源

当然可以， 但是从新疆到上海北京远，而电子持续不多。

Posted on: Dealing with Praise

He might be referring to her choice of boyfriend. ;-)

Posted on: Nearby Tea House

Does he have any other obsessive tendencies I wonder? Actually good luck to him. I had this tentative plan to go on every bus route in the city (I have some spare time), until I learnt that there are 185 routes, And that is an understatement; a fair few routes are varied depending on the time of day. That's not counting the county buses. I'm going to sample them.

Posted on: Nearby Tea House

Someone from HK has to come in here and admit that mixing tea and coffee is a national (or is that sub-national?) pastime. Yeh, folks, a favourite afternoon drink of the HK native is tea mixed with coffee. Compared with what they eat though that is definitely not weird.

Posted on: Dealing with Praise

I have an acquaintance at work who says that his son is 'smarter than me, soooo smart'. (I interpret that as praise, coming from someone who I think is very clever.) Actually I always say that in reference to my kids but in my case that is not very difficult. Another friend heaps praise on his young teenage son - but in this case it might just be an observation, but he is an unusually good kid. Two other families I have known well for several years both speak proudly of their children's achievements. Maybe I haven't met the humble ones yet? I wouldn't describe the comments as bragging - just being proud of their children. I admit parents often add a rider that their children don't study enough, but the pride still shows through. Actually, I've just thought of another one: stayed in a farmer's house one night and the young son (about 9 or 10 maybe) was a kind of savant. You could give him all these complicated arithmetic problems (in English) and he would do them in his head! Hmm, maybe that's just drawing a comparison between our school systems. :)

Posted on: Food Flavors, Shanghai Style

I am working through (learning about) a list of more than 200 'famous' Sichuan dishes; actually closer to 250. Unfortunately a few of them have been 'stolen' from Yunnan. :) And yet, a few of your suggestions are not on my list - the list of famous dishes is never-ending! :)

The 1st three, no problem.

水煮牛柳 - in Yunnan the 柳 would probably refer to 香茅柳 - is that the case here? Can you describe this dish?

红烧什锦 - what goes in this one? (Sounds interesting - like 'pot luck'?)

大蒜鲢鱼 - sounds good (not on my list - how is it cooked?)

蒜泥白肉 - what is this? (It makes me think of a 浙江 dish that is just boiled pork with an egg on top.)

Posted on: Dealing with Praise

There is a story to go with this expression I am told, in which a beautiful woman is lavished with praise about her beauty, and she looks around her and exclaims rhetorically 哪里哪里? ('where is this beautiful woman you are talking about?') That may be a home-grown story - not sure how general it is.

Posted on: Dealing with Praise

Hi maktubhelou

It is not just 'bragging' that it is unacceptable; it is a whole range of behaviours.  For example, a particularly able student of mine is actively disliked by fellow students because he asks questions in class.  I asked why he isn't liked and was told 'because he talks too much in class'.  

To answer your questions, I think parents speak proudly of how brilliant their children are; if the child hears this they are likely to be terribly embarrassed.  I guess that is not too different to the West.  

A person receiving extravagant praise may say 哪里哪里(where? where?).. where is this person you are talking about?  ;-)  

Posted on: Nearby Tea House

Hi maktubhelou

'European' coffee? I'm confused, you're American right? :)

If it is European coffee you want you will find that Illy has a sizeable presence in China including with a Chinese chain of coffee shops, at least where I live. They make Italian style coffee. Proper coffee; nothing like Starbucks. ;-)

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Posted on: Finishing Work for the Weekend

Yoku, apologies I forgot this is an Elementary, should have translated. Actually short of time but it is just about how to use Tupperware containers.