User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Shanghai

I hate to put a dampener on the mouth-watering discussion but when eating out with Shanghai friends one day we (the foreigners) ate 小笼包 while our hosts, the Shanghai natives, ate nothing but 猪血 zhūxuè (pig's blood).  I subsequently got a taste for the pig's blood myself, no worries (they also like it in Hangzhou), but I also discovered that local Shanghai food can be much stranger than pig's blood.

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

Thanks Barbs

Which reminded me (Connie's comment) of the other thing to say to a 杭州人：上有天堂，下有苏杭。shàng yǒu tiāntáng, xià yǒu Sū Háng

One of China's great mysteries is why 苏州 goes first. I am led to believe it is because of the constraints of rhyme and rhythm of the language, and nothing to do with objective measures of beauty.

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

Thanks for the reminder about the bus dialogues - by coincidence I thought about it yesterday while on the bus, and made it a resolution (quietly, to myself). The woman sitting next to me was upset by the usual long wait for every seat to be filled before we started and she would occasionally burst out with 'Aaaaaaaaah, 什么什么。。不动。 I could not understand it all but I thought wouldn't it be nice to be able to swear at the bus driver on occasions?

Thanks for bonsai 盆栽. A Chinese potted landscape is now 盆景, but 盆栽 in MDBG translates as 'pot'. 盆景 is very popular here but maybe not as much as in Japan I guess.

I wonder if they don't eat goldfish because they admire them so much; no that wouldn't be it, they eat tortoises.

Which reminds me of another Hangzhou topic - 西湖醋鱼 West Lake (sweet & sour) carp. :) There are lots of famous Hangzhou dishes - and your visitors might bring 藕粉 ǒufěn (lotus root starch, made into a snack) as a gift - delicious.

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

Oh, thanks, I stand corrected (again). That's how I learn. :-)

Sorry Zhenlijiang for being a bit misleading. I must say though I have never heard anyone use this MW and I have shopped for a few 'potted flowers'! I guess because you buy the pot AND the flower together - I have referred to the combo using 个 and shopkeepers have similarly used 个. On the other hand 一盆 in reference to a goldfish bowl or similar is common.

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

Hi Zhenlijiang

You can say 'pot' but 一盆 yīpén is also something we keep goldfish in, a 'bowl' in English. We wouldn't say a pot for goldfish, not unless you were planning to cook them. :)

It should actually be 一花盆 yīhuāpén (a flower pot)

Posted on: What is this called?

I would like to know where Ploopy drinks. I have never been to a place in China (or anywhere else) where they come around and top up your glass of beer. Or 白酒。 I always tap when my tea is topped up, especially when it is a waiter. It is, after all a way of saying thank you. Waiters do not get enough thanks - they are generally treated rudely by the people they serve. (Note to Barbs: one of the aspects of culture I find hard to swallow.) And I will keep an eye out for the places where the waiter tops up the beer and 白酒。 :)

Posted on: Traveling around China

My question is, where does 非常不错 fit on the scale of 'goodness'? My rough guess on some of these terms is as follows:

还可以 (just so so - and a little below just so so) - with grimace

马马虎虎 (just so so) - with smile (what can you do?)

好 (quite good) - pretty expressionless

不错 (quite good) - increasing enthusiasm...

挺好的 & 很好 (good/ quite good)

很不错 (better than quite good)

非常不错 & 非常好 (better than better than quite good; extremely good)

太好了 (wonderful, great)

家乡jiāxiāng and 老家 lǎojiā - 都可以说 (they mean the same thing)

Posted on: Track and Field

your guidelines didn't work Jason - which reminds me, can this be put into a FAQ, so when we forget how to do it we can look it up?

Posted on: Describing Fear

哦，我看过二胡的动物皮，还不知道什么种类的动物的。

Posted on: Describing Fear

没有， 哈哈。 我觉得中国的蛇喜欢很响的摇滚乐。