User Comments - pearltowerpete
pearltowerpete
Posted on: Thinking of my Brothers by Moonlight -- 月夜忆舍兄
May 26, 2009 at 1:12 AMHi all,
Here is today's poem.
戍鼓断人行，秋边一雁声。
shùgǔ duàn rénxíng , qiūbiān yīyànshēng
露从今夜白，月是故乡明。
lùcóng jīnyè bái , yuè shì gùxiāngmíng
有弟皆分散，无家问死生。
yǒu dì jiē fēnsàn , wújiā wèn sǐshēng
寄书长不达，况乃未休兵。
jì shū cháng bùdá , kuàngnǎi wèi xiūbīng.
戍鼓斷人行，秋邊一雁聲。
露從今夜白，月是故鄉明。
有弟皆分散，無家問死生。
寄書長不達，況乃未休兵。
The poetic device I mentioned where the poet states his own feelings regardless of objective reality is called 移情 (yíqíng).
Posted on: Funny Rice
May 25, 2009 at 1:20 PMHi RJ (and others who are interested)
There are definitely dirty jokes in Chinese! A lot of them on sites like mop.com are just translated from English ones I heard long ago. And an awful lot of them are cheap shots at the Japanese. But there are some genuinely funny ones out there. I'd be happy to PM anyone who's interested.
To everyone else who shared jokes:
Great stuff! I love the one about the termite.
Here's another: A bear goes into a bar and says to the bartender, "I'd like a gin.....and tonic."
The bartender says, "OK, but why the big pause?"
The bear says "'Cause I'm a &$^(@ bear! Roar!"
Posted on: Funny Rice
May 25, 2009 at 9:48 AMHi rjberki and yumilamps
The (admittedly weak) joke turns on the fact that 生 means "to give birth to." So 花生米, which means "shelled peanuts," could also be interpreted as "flowers give birth to rice," aka rice's mother is a flower.
Come to think of it, this is an interesting counterpart to the lively Lao Wang discussion about literal translations next door ；-)
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 11: Wang in the Doghouse
May 25, 2009 at 7:48 AMHi daphnedawn,
Glad to hear that you enjoyed the lesson.
The opposite of 没一次有结果 would be 每一次都有结果.
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 11: Wang in the Doghouse
May 25, 2009 at 7:29 AMHi evasiege,
Yes, Jiaojie confirms that 本事 and 能力 are interchangeable.
Posted on: Funny Rice
May 25, 2009 at 6:48 AMQ: How many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Fish.
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 11: Wang in the Doghouse
May 25, 2009 at 5:24 AMHi malimason,
Sure, you can say that! Similar phrases are 别吵了 and 别嚷嚷, both of which my lovely g/f has been known to use on me ;-)
Posted on: Funny Rice
May 25, 2009 at 3:05 AMHi all,
The word 生 is supposed to depict a growing plant, according to Wenlin.
It appears in many words related to production, growth, and nature.
性 - xìng - sex, nature (as in "human nature" 人性)
姓 - xìng - surname
It appeared in the traditional character 產 (产 chǎn) ， to produce. Simplification cost that character a bit of depth.
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 11: Wang in the Doghouse
May 25, 2009 at 2:36 AMHi flibberdie and rjberki
I see your points.
"Bullshit" is a little too harsh here. Anyway there are Chinese ways to say that , e.g. 胡说, 胡扯, etc.
I think flibberdie's suggestion of "yeah, yeah, yeah" is a pretty good gloss in this context. But it is not at all literal, and would require some explanation. And this kind of sarcasm is not so common in Chinese. Still, it captures the wife's frustration and lack of patience.
Incidentally, there is a kind of sound effect that Chinese ladies will sometimes make in this kind of situation. Written down, it would look like *秋* You have to turn your head sharply to the side as you say it. But it is also dismissive.
Posted on: 易中天《读城记》
May 26, 2009 at 2:18 AM我在成都只干过一件事儿- 看了星球大战"克隆战争”的前一半。难看得吐血，都没看完就走了。恨死George Lucas.
除了我以外电影院里就一个人，坐在前排拿着摄影机把电影拍下来，肯定跟售票员说好了。