User Comments - pearltowerpete
pearltowerpete
Posted on: A Day at the Races
February 4, 2009 at 2:33 AMHi pretzellogic
Even when you don't understand, it's still good to listen to the higher-level lessons. I think of it like a baseball player swinging a couple bats before going up to the plate. When the pitch comes, it feels like nothing.
And the guy in the lesson bet on the longshot and won!
Posted on: 中国崛起
February 4, 2009 at 2:17 AMHi nishitani
Thanks for sharing your insights. A lesson on 水墨画 ink painting is also an excellent idea, which I will bring up at our next brainstorming session.
Posted on: Talking with Numbers
February 4, 2009 at 2:15 AMHi Niels
三八 is an insult for women who are perceived as not being serious or dignified enough.
But 三八 also pops up in 三八妇女节, the Women's Festival on March 8th. That holiday started in America, but was then adopted by the PRC in 1949. A big part of their early support was from women, who had gotten a raw deal in China for thousands of years (foot-binding, being treated as property, etc.）
Mao said that they were 半边天-- they held up "half the sky."
Posted on: Thoughts on Returning Home 回乡偶书
February 4, 2009 at 1:55 AMHi bill
If you like 寒山， there is a 惊喜 in store for you very soon! This is a challenging and very rewarding body of work.
Hi Cornelia
Glad you enjoyed the poem. I am trying to find the right speed and so feedback like yours is very useful. And don't worry about not understanding the poem when you hear it. If I couldn't see the text, I would not be able to understand a lot of these poems.
Posted on: 中国崛起
February 3, 2009 at 11:01 PMHi user28880
In fact, TV's first interracial kiss was originally going to be both interracial and inter-species (!) as Uhura was going to kiss Spock.
But William Shatner insisted "If we're going to be making TV history here, I want in!" and the scene was re-written. Sneaky devil... ;-)
Now, back to our regularly scheduled debate on national self image.
Posted on: Thoughts on Returning Home 回乡偶书
February 3, 2009 at 12:31 PMHi yankees
白话文 is a type of writing which has been around roughly since the Tang era, and is very similar to the common people's daily speech 口语.
This is in contrast with 文言文, classical Chinese, which was used mostly by government officials and would be very difficult for common folks to understand.
Hi lotsofwordsandnospaces,
Thanks for the enthusiasm! Connie did a great job reciting this one.
And changye,
Thanks as always for going the extra mile and providing some fascinating background information on the structure of the poem.
Posted on: Talking with Numbers
February 3, 2009 at 9:13 AMHi kybod4
I had always heard that 250 was some kind of rating that a person was unfit for military service, like 4F in the States.
But as with many such stories, there is more than one explanation. In addition to the story you linked to, there is the "long boring story about a Hong Kong card game" 牌九，in which the two weakest tiles are 二板 er4ban3 and 么五mewu3. Any other tile is better than them, so everyone looks down at them and calls them by the shortened name, 二百五.
What other ideas do you all have?
Posted on: Thoughts on Returning Home 回乡偶书
February 3, 2009 at 8:13 AMHi calkins,
I tried to change the one above but the html defeated me. Here is the poem with spaces.
少小离家老大回，
shàoxiǎo líjiā lǎodà huí
乡音无改鬓毛衰。
xiāngyīn wúgǎi bìnmáo cuī
儿童相见不相识，
ér tóng xiāngjiàn bù xiāngshí
笑问客从何处来。
xiào wèn kè cóng héchù lái
离别家乡岁月多，
líbié jiāxiāng suìyuè duō
近来人事半消磨。
jìnlái rénshì bàn xiāomó
唯有门前镜湖水，
wéi yǒu ménqián jìnghúshuǐ
春风不改旧时波。
chūn fēng bùgǎi jiùshí bō
Posted on: Sign Here, Please
February 3, 2009 at 7:35 AMHi bababardwan
The two words are basically the same, but 签字 is used more for when someone signs off on something, whereas 签名 is more for autographs.
And the radical in 快递的递 is on the left. It's the 走之旁 zou3zhi1pang2, the walking radical. It is the signific, and shows movement. See also 过，道，通, etc. And you're right, that is a 弟 di4 on the right. It's the phonetic.
Posted on: A Day at the Races
February 4, 2009 at 2:39 AMHi yankees
Yes, as a matter of fact, horse racing in China has a long, glorious history.
The 上海美术馆 Shanghai Fine Arts Museum used to be the headquarters of the Racing Association during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Other cities had tracks as well, and they still have them in Hong Kong.
After coming to power, the Communists banned it in an attempt to rain on the parade purify the People's morals.
And just last year, the Wuhan track re-opened. As a Saratoga Springs native, I now feel a little bit less homesick ;-)