User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Yunnan

Aaah, my special topic.  :)  So disappointed you had to Google for information.  :(   

过桥米线 (Cross the bridge noodles) - possibly the best known local dish.  Ranges from cheap, 7 or 8 RMB, to expensive, about 80 RMB. It is the range of condiments that changes with price. The restaurants often have a floor show!  The 'condiments' are not all for putting in your soup - some are eaten while you wait for the soup.  And the 'condiments' are possibly some of the most unusual edible things you will ever see.  (Actually I can't confirm that they are all edible.)  The meal should start with a small bowl of black chicken soup.  

烤豆腐 (bbq tofu) - there is a popular 小吃 that is cooked cooked on a flat plate, with chilli etc. It is in fact a soft tofu - you get it in a little take-away container.

Erkuai - funny because it actually costs 一块五 (little joke).  Pretty tasteless I think without the chilli sauce etc., and the 油条 they put in it.  

Catherine's photo is of 乳饼 rubing - cooked in many different combinations with tomato, mushrooms etc. A standard dish.  

火腿 huotui (ham) - Yunnan has its own special ham.  Delicious hot.  

Another standard is 老乃洋芋 (mashed potato, with a variety of accompaniments, like chilli, dill etc.)  

荞麦饼 qiaomai bing (buckwheat pancakes - actually like what we call pikelets, a small diameter pancake, in the West, but made from buckwheat flour, made from a type of rhubarb.) 

But the really different thing about Yunnan may be the mushrooms.  There are about 500 edible varieties - we have 'mushroom' restaurants.   

Posted on: Mother's Day

'.a drive by quandry leaver' :)

Sounds like a convenient thing to have in the neighbourhood, if you own a car. Sorry, that would be a 'drive in quandry leaver'.

Posted on: Mother's Day

Hee hee. Hi Tal, sorry, did we wake you up? Your post took it to 55 (I never could add up properly), Valuable comment, thanks. I think Zhenlijiang and I are now licking our wounds. Isn't this what threading was brought in for? :)

Posted on: Mother's Day

Someone may put us straight - I also am weak on 了. I am going to defend my translation because even if she has said one word it is in the past, and if that fails, the rule that Chinese abhors a single character (like nature abhors a vacuum) so the 了 is there to keep 聊 company. :)

I'm guessing that you would say it this way even if these are the only words uttered. I hope we get help from an expert, like anna-su (who was witness.)

Posted on: Mother's Day

Hi Barbs

My guess is that it translates closer to what anna_su says herself! 'You want to talk to me about something? I don't have much time to talk!' Not as you suggest 'we've been chatting this long...'

I think the 这么久 (说) refers to how long she has to talk, negated by the next couple of characters.. 都不 . What do you think?

Posted on: Mother's Day

'you were not really upfront about it being the context-less English translation you have trouble with'

Yeah, I was up-front Zhenlijiang, In my very first post, 49 posts ago!, I refer to the deficiency in the English translation and/or the need to supply some context for the sentence to avoid mis-understandings for people relying on the translation. That passes the test for being 'up-front'. Admittedly I am raising something that many people found unusual so it is perhaps not surprising that we needed nearly fifty exchanges to bring some clarity.

Cheers

Posted on: Mother's Day

Your problem with 'this does not reflect Chinese culture'.

A couple of points -

I said up front (first post?) it is the English translation without context I have trouble with.

Culture is not only has an 'average' meaning it also has connotations of being widespread. In Australia perhaps 10% or 15% of families are affected by some form of child abuse at some stage (for example.) Despite this alarmingly high statistic we would not say 'this case of child abuse reflects Australian culture'. We wouldn't say it for several reasons, one being that the activity described is breaking the law of the land. It is considered aberrant or deviant.

Both these points should illuminate the sentence in my post that you have trouble with. Either it is aberrant compared to the majority, or it does not adequately explain what is going on.

Posted on: Mother's Day

Thanks guys, Changye, Zhenlijiang, Barbs, et al., for keeping the discussion going, I think. :-) [Actually I need an emoticon for a 'weak smile', any suggestions? Maybe Tal's got something?]

One point - acknowledging difficulty with judging whether the sentence is 'common' and therefore welcome because it reflects Chinese culture (and leaving aside my contention that whether or not it is common it, in the absence of context, describes a form of child abuse, namely psychological abuse) - would everyone agree that seeing it on TV shows portraying contemporary life in China would be a fair, if imperfect, indicator? I'd be interested to hear reports from anyone seeing it on TV. I'll do my bit; I've got 98 channels to monitor. At any one time about 50 of them are showing Japanese war movies so that leaves just 48. If it is common it shouldn't take me long to find it. :)

Posted on: These Napkins Ain't Free

亦指转嫁名种负担 - (also indicates shifting some kind of burden to someone; 'passing the buck')

亦指 means 'also indicates...', in this case a reference to a meaning for the original expression.

I should point out that I got this whole explanation of the expression from a dictionary. I did not attempt to put it into my own words. :)

Posted on: Mother's Day

It seems that a lot of people care what we think, or at least a few people care quite a lot. You sound like you may not be too interested, but on this topic there is quite a cultural divide between the USA on the one hand, and Europe, Australia, and New Zealand on the other.

Fatuous - yikes! We will all need Changye's dictionary.