User Comments - patrick0530

Profile picture

patrick0530

Posted on: A Cell Phone Ad on TV
February 12, 2010, 12:44 PM

I'll bet there's a lot of ideas being exchanged between the two, the American style of salesmanship is often cringed at in the UK! However, some ads I've seen in China embody a kind of "cool" that was surely out of date 25 years ago in the West and would have most people there curling their toes.

Posted on: A Cell Phone Ad on TV
February 12, 2010, 03:58 AM

Ads are a good way to learn thanks to repetition, my favourite was 妈妈最开心的事就是看着宝宝大口大口的吃饭。I think a lot of advertising in China would not work at all if remade in the West, way too cliched.

Posted on: The White Spectrum of Meaning
February 06, 2010, 01:08 PM

Yeah, I never heard the word "cuckold" before I looked into this, I suppose we'd usually say "be cheated on by". I'd love to know specifically why there's a type of hat to represent this..

Posted on: The White Spectrum of Meaning
February 06, 2010, 02:24 AM

They sure try to attain whiteness of skin, in the hot months, girls especially, will do all they can to dodge the sunlight.  People are intrigued to hear that we would actually pay money for a tan.  Slightly off topic, but what about the green hat phenomenon?

Posted on: Pay Verbs
January 30, 2010, 12:52 PM

我刚交完罚款 - wo gang jiao wan fa kuan.  I just paid a fine.  For the heinous crime of not carrying my passport on my person.  I hear the police often try to raise money before the spring festival.

Posted on: Calling an Ambulance
January 12, 2010, 09:20 AM

I've often seen ambulances sitting at traffic lights in China with the roof light on but seemingly in no rush.  In the back are a motley of unwell looking people, so I've always assumed ambulances in China are more like a hospital shuttle bus.

Posted on: Foot Therapy
January 08, 2010, 02:15 PM

I had a 足疗 today, I used to call it 按脚 , until I learned what the sign meant.  I usually get told there's something wrong with my stomach or I have 肝火 "liver fire", similar to shanghuo I suppose.  They call massage bao jian 保健 and I'm not sure why that's different from 按摩。  

Posted on: A Thanksgiving Phone Call
November 26, 2009, 05:11 AM

I get "Happy Thanksgiving" messages all day in China.  They're under the impression that it's a "Western" festival.  None of them ever heard about Guy Fawkes Night though.

Posted on: Kaixin Wang Farm Thieves
October 24, 2009, 09:35 AM

tal, you're totally right, I assumed it was still blocked, still, some of the more sensitive topics are off limits.

Posted on: Kaixin Wang Farm Thieves
October 24, 2009, 12:04 AM

Interestingly there's no Chinese version of Wikipedia.  Guess people might start writing unauthorised facts on it.