User Comments - go_manly

Posted on: Invitations to Eat (original)

Thanks Connie. Your mouseover Pinyin says 'Chinese Food', despite the translation of 'Lunch'.

Posted on: What's up?

I have only just realised that this is a lesson-thread, so I will pull out now. But to finish with just about the most annoying Americanism, "Have a nice day". (Aagh, I get a cold shiver every time I hear that.)

Posted on: What's up?

When I was 'taken to hospital' last year. the ambulance drivers used their onboard computer to determine which was the best hospital to take me to based on waiting lists, etc. This is because we have a public hospital 'system' and not a group of competing hospitals. So it makes sense not to be specific. There have been many complaints about the system here in NSW in recent years, but if I have to get sick, I would want it to be here, and not in the states. According to Wikipedia: the United States is the "only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage". I find that scary, and is one reason why I would never travel to the States.

Posted on: What's up?

And 'fanny' - well its time for Americans to relearn their human anatomy.

Posted on: What's up?

Or miss, after a sin.

Posted on: Invitations to Eat (original)

changye has the correct words for 'lunch'.

中餐 (zhōngcān) is short for 中国餐 (Zhōngguó cān) or Chinese food.

I believe that 中菜 (zhōngcài), short for 中国菜 (Zhōngguó cài), is an alternative.

According to Yellowbridge, xiao_liang's word 中饭 (zhōngfàn) also means lunch.

Posted on: What's up?

RJ

Gasoline is another word which we hear on American TV, but is rarely heard amongst locals in Australia (and I'm guessing in England too).

The Online Etymological Dictionary (a US site) says:

Gasoline, coined 1865 as gasolene, from gas + chemical suffix -ine/-ene. Current spelling is 1871; shortened form gas first recorded Amer.Eng. 1905. Gas station first recorded 1932.

In summary: gas -> gasolene -> gasoline -> gas

So, there is still the issue: What does gasoline have to do with gas?

And I think you got that formula wrong, RJ. It should be:

Displacement is just: a x sin (2 x pi x time / period).

Posted on: Invitations to Eat (original)

Regarding the Expansion sentence:

我们吃中餐好不好？  (Wŏmen chī zhōngcān hăo bu hăo?)  How about let's eat lunch?

What part of the sentence suggests 'lunch'?  Doesn't 中餐 (zhōngcān) mean 'Chinese food' ?

Posted on: 网络红人

I think they are the most useful non-podcast material on the site.

Posted on: These Napkins Ain't Free

To add to that, 一下 tends to appear as a way to soften a suggestion - kind of like 'why don't you', 'would you mind'.