User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Learning English in China

Ha ha, good one. Actually it WAS mianfei, how did you guess? She had got vouchers for the meal through her father's work - the wife and I were on some kind of 关系 treadmill that I never got to the bottom of.

Actually I get the mianfei reference, very clever.

Posted on: Learning English in China

'whether anyone still adheres to it?'

It is difficult to say, obviously, but the Chinese capacity to mix different foods is legendary. I once had dinner with someone who had a steak and a piece of chocolate cake on a plate together. They took a bite of each in turn until both were finished. Maybe she needed the cake to help get the steak down?

And there is a saying that Chinese people eat everything except the table. (Traditionally this is directed at people from Guangdong I think.)

Posted on: Mother's Day

'..shops are all over it.'

For the benefit of poddies who are all over English, and even those who are all over English, I would like to point out that the term 'all over it' has two diametrically opposed meanings.

This is not highlighting an Americanism (I will of course leave that to more able poddies). In the latest Prairie Home Companion podcast Garrison Keilor tells the story of the young man tasked with organising the annual Prom. With the date approaching the townsfolk ask him how it's going and he replies that he is 'all over it'. They optimistically assume he means that it is all under control, but he actually means that he has made no arrangements at all because he is 'all over it'. :)

Posted on: Stop Speeding!

Jiangcheng1985

You should not be sorry!!..[ notice my :) as an attempt to flag that I am not too serious.] It is my painful sense of humour I'm afraid that drives me to these posts.

And I sorta guessed you learnt it from a dictionary - no doubt when I post in Chinese you can tell what I got from a dictionary!

BTW, it IS a synonym for assiduous but I would say that assiduous is in much more common usage. Even that.. my advice is to go for the simple word like thorough.

Posted on: Learning English in China

I think that every culture might have a similar saying, because it is an aspect of human nature. But in some cultures it may be taken to extremes. I remember reading about Indonesia where providing 'gifts' can cripple the recipient for ever. Also, in Papua New Guinea, gifts are used by rich people to control those not so well off. Beware free lunches anywhere.

I guess the inevitable 'opposite' idiom in English is 'manna from Heaven'.

Posted on: Learning English in China

Currently I love the character 巡，巡逻的巡。 It looks so business-like on the side of a patrol van. I imagine soldiers walking along in lock-step. 警察正在巡逻。。 :)

Can you tell us anything about its history?

Posted on: Stop Speeding!

Hi jiangcheng1985

I hope you don't mind me offering a view on your use of 'sedulous'? I think that 'sedulous enough in learning Chinese' would be better expressed as 'thorough in their studies of Chinese'.

Reasons:

1. It is not a very natural use.

2. Most native speakers would probably go to a dictionary to see what it means - I would call this failed communication.

3. Because it is not a common word. It has become associated with some specific uses - such as 'sedulously crafted' or sedulous flattery'. You may call these 'lexical chunks' (I learnt that expression at ChinesePod). The point is that sedulous sometimes conveys a negative sense, because of its association with 'craft' and 'flattery'. If not used this way, my impression is that it would be used by someone trying to impress others with their command of the English language.

4. I feel somewhat illiterate when you use it. :)

Posted on: A Tour of the Office

三个月半 (3 1/2 months)

Posted on: Upcoming lessons, lots of Chinese and a "jia you!"

Barbs. I'm picking an argument as instructed. I can't get youtube 'no probs'. Is the 'no probs' a reference to a VPN? Too mafan for me.

But [this is a non sequitur - analogous to walking to work a different way, all in the cause of stimulating the brain cells] we can get up to date TV using .. I won't say what but it is free (of course, this is China). We get TV series soon after their release. Or is it begging the question, I can't remember which. No, I've decided that it was a segue.

Posted on: Suffix Magic

Hi Catherine - thanks for checking this. I tried two or three times yesterday, one click on the blue link above, as I always download to listen on my laptop. Tried both CD and radio quality a couple of times and neither version worked. Today it worked fine. I don't have a problem now .. if it happens again I will let you know.