User Comments - pearltowerpete

Posted on: Saying Good-bye at a Tavern in Nanjing -- 金陵酒肆留别

Hi tommaz,

I'm honored that you enjoyed the series so much. The Dylan piece must surely be a variation on "The Parting Glass." Good modernization, I'd say.

Hi sydcarten,

I'm looking forward to hearing your comments and questions about the poems. As I mentioned in the podcast, I will be here on the discussion boards.

Posted on: Podcast Language 3

Hi jjfoerch,

D'oh--- you're right. A slip of the tongue.

Hi alexyzye

Good question. 只 is for smaller dogs, whereas 条 is the measure word for "longer" dogs, that seem almost like a "strip," which is the primary meaning of 条. Maybe we could make the cut-off based on whether you can pick the dog up ;-)

Posted on: Hot Pot

Hi bodawei,

Thanks for bringing up the background on 鴛鴦鍋. They mate for life, apparently, and so make an appropriate metaphor for the snugly-nested sections of the pot.

Posted on: Juiced!

Hi shenyajin,

I agree with you about durians.

I used to be a fan of 臭豆腐. But I have heard very dodgy things about how some unscrupulous people make it. I won't go into specifics, other than to say that the food gets its distinctive taste from fermentation, which requires bacteria. There is a very cheap source of bacteria that all living creatures create. Do I need to say more?

Obviously, there are surely plenty of reliable people selling this stuff safely.

Posted on: Juiced!

Hi chand,

I like your juice recipe. I like to add a couple of WEET-BIX (压缩小麦饼） for bulk.

Posted on: Hot Pot

Hi alexyzye

Eggs can be cooked in either fashion. 炒蛋 are stirred as you cook-- they appear in dishes such as 番茄炒蛋.This is the kind you will generally get in a restaurant.

煎 is for when you cook something in a thin layer of oil, often on a broad hot plate. This is the style used in making 煎饼, a sort of egg pancake.

Posted on: Saying Good-bye at a Tavern in Nanjing -- 金陵酒肆留别

Hi chanelle77

Thanks for the kind words. I had never given much serious thought to the origins of 金陵  but your theory may be correct-- this excerpt from Baidu Zhidao cites 紫金山 as one possible source of the name 金陵。 The mountain's strategic location along the Chang Jiang was recognized even as early as the Warring States period.

Other possible explanations are that the word 凌 refers to an imperial tomb, or to buried gold.

Please take this (as you would any online uncited source) with a grain of salt. We would need a gazetteer of place names to really get the true story-and even that might not be 100% reliable ;-)

Posted on: Funny Business, Part Two

Hi tage,

Playing "fast and loose" means knowing the rules but not always adhering to them 100%. It requires a certain amount of finesse and skill, and involves a bit of risk. 

In ping pong,it is acceptable, if risky, to hit the edge of the table. You are going for the very frontier of what is acceptable, i.e. you lose the point if you completely miss the table. 

Posted on: Saying Good-bye at a Tavern in Nanjing -- 金陵酒肆留别

Hi cassielin,

您过奖了，班门弄斧！

The song is "The Parting Glass," a traditional tune. You can get the lyrics by clicking on the link at the top of the page.

I associated it with this poem because it mentions

"And since it falls unto my lot (i.e. it is my destiny)

That I should rise (i.e. get up and go), and you should not..."

This is quite a bit like the contrast of 欲行不行 as mentioned in the poem. Also, the idea of drinking a last glass of alcohol to say good-bye appears in many unrelated cultures.

Posted on: Funny Business, Part Two

I like the phrase 敬酒不吃吃罰酒  Note that it refers to 吃酒, not 喝酒. Many dialects in the Zhejiang/Shanghai area talk about 吃茶，吃酒 , etc. and this trickles into Mandarin.

When you play drinking games, you often need to 罚几杯, which means to drink extra alcohol as punishment for failing to do something.

I know that some non-American poddies may be confused by the translation "to play hardball." This refers to the games of baseball and softball. When you need to get tough with someone after initially being friendly, you say that you are going to "play hardball" with them. No more Mister Nice Guy!