User Comments - orangina
orangina
Posted on: The North Has Central Heating
December 13, 2009 at 1:17 PMmudphud,
I also wish "they" would just stick the dang umlaut on the Us that are pronounced that way. But it is standard convention. There are other sounds which are not written in pinyin. For example the initials W and Y are actually U and I respectively, so all words begining wen is actually the uen final without an initial, and yong is iong... There are also missing letters. ui is really uei, but since "there is nothing you can confuse it with" it isn't written out completely. And there are more like that. Pinyin is not English. It was never intended to be used by MSL students. It was inteded to be used by kids who hear these sounds in their homes every day. I went thru the pinyin chart with the Pinyin Program and wrote in all the sounds that are left out. I then made a "real pinyin" chart for myself. It was a good excersize. Thanks for reminding me! I need to study it some more so I don't forget.
Posted on: Skiing, Not Ice Skating
December 12, 2009 at 4:10 PMvery cool, vann! It seems electricity is particularly dangerous.
Posted on: A Charming Café in Shanghai
December 10, 2009 at 3:46 AMAnd, quasifrog, throughout history people have decried the practice.
Smoking is a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume thereof nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.
- King James I of England, (1566-1625) A Counter-blaste to Tobacco (1604).
The passage was written shortly after Sir Walter Raleigh introduced tobacco to England from the Americas
I felt no need to comment on smoking in this post before. It seemed to me just a discussion about the state of business in China, nothing more. But your "throughout history" argument does not do much for me.
Posted on: Pirates under attack!
December 4, 2009 at 2:21 AM啊！我明白了。 谢谢connie!
Posted on: Pirates under attack!
December 4, 2009 at 2:10 AMjimijames, according to what I heard, yes 伤害 is the origin of the term shanghaied... but I think the place to be Shanghaied is SanFransisco! I have a book that discusses it back in the States... add that to the list of things I wish I brought with me to China.
Posted on: Pirates under attack!
December 3, 2009 at 2:21 PMPerhaps this was in the chit-chat portion and I missed it in all of my elementaryness, but why does 给我冲 mean "attack?" The best I could come up with is that it means something like "surge."
Posted on: Hang Up and Ride!
December 2, 2009 at 12:49 PM谢谢helencao老师!
bodawei, 我还不聪明。。。我从未学习抽烟，甚至散步的时候不能抽烟。
wǒ hái bù cōngming... wǒ cóngwèi xuéxí chōuyān, shènzhì sànbù deshíhòu bùnéng chōuyān.
I am still not clever... I never learned to smoke, even when I go for a walk I can't smoke。
I do wish Chinese used irony and sarcasm. I don't know how I will ever learn to communicate without them!
Posted on: Hang Up and Ride!
December 2, 2009 at 10:24 AM我坦白。我在骑车应答手机。可是不用耳机。
wǒ tǎnbái. wǒ zài qíchē yìngdá shǒujī. kěshì bùyòng ěrjī
I confess. I have answered my phone while riding my bike. But I didn't use earphones.
Posted on: Picking things up: 拿、带、取
December 2, 2009 at 3:27 AMviva la difference!!
Posted on: Teacher services, vouchers, and a great start to learning Chinese!
December 13, 2009 at 2:41 PMI like to think of myself as above these sort of things, but I am SO EXCITED!!! I was just going to request a mani/pedi lesson.
"True beauty lies within, but a little lipstick doesn't hurt, and you may as well put on some powder while you are at it." -beauty guru Rona Berg's grandma