User Comments - pearltowerpete
pearltowerpete
Posted on: How Many Zeroes?
April 1, 2009 at 1:50 AMIn my experience, the best way to deal with the zeroes problem is brutal rote memorization. Don't try to count zeroes, just get used to thinking of 1,000,000 as 一百万, not "a million."
I used to have a lot of trouble because of the (handy) American habit of reading, for example, 1,500 as "fifteen hundred." This is also not done in China.
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
March 31, 2009 at 8:42 AMHi lotsofwordsandnospaces,
Brilliant! Great examples!
Probably the most eye-catching headline in US tabloid history was the New York Post's:
HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR!
Posted on: Sympathy for the Farmers -- 悯农
March 31, 2009 at 8:40 AMHi jes13
So honored to be a part of your routine!
Hi bababardwan
Thanks for your kind words and for your observations about famous cases of cannibalism. I have a book at home that I just haven't had time to read called The Custom of the Sea. It's about a case in the late 1800s where a few Englishmen adrift in a boat ended up killing and eating one of their number. After they were rescued, they were tried as criminals. I'm not sure how the case ended up-- I haven't read the bloody book yet!
Just as we seem to draw distinctions between dogs raised as pets and those raised to be eaten, most people find cannibalism of corpses much more acceptable than killing and then eating other people.
Both kinds of situations arose in during the Great Leap Forward. There is a horrific custom in times of starvation called 易子而食, exchanging children to eat. The idea is that people can't bear to eat their own babies, but could eat a neighbor's.
The Great Leap says nothing about the Chinese people. 中国poddies, 别误会我的意思，我并没说中国人不善良或不人道。这全都是 governmental problem. The lesson is that ordinary people can be driven to brutality if they are starved, hopeless, and unable to flee to areas with food. We need to learn from these tragedies and do our best to prevent them from happening again.
But, poddies, if I'm ever adrift in a boat with any of you, please feel free to eat my body if it will help you survive.
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
March 31, 2009 at 8:26 AMHi lotsofwordsandnospaces
A quick google/baidu search didn't turn up any other 雨纷纷 from the Tang era. But the phrase seems to be irresistable to modern weather forecast writers, as you can see in this headline.
I think that drizzly rain is viewed in mainy cultures as a symbol of melancholy and loneliness. That's basically what the articles said. The poem reminds me of Bill Evans' classic recording of Here's That Rainy Day.
As a side note, it must be wonderful for Chinese headline writers to have such a wealth of allusions to draw on. The only example I can think of in English was a delicious headline about a hockey goalie who let through two out of three shots--- "He stoppeth one of three." The reference is to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
March 31, 2009 at 8:07 AMHi bodawei
Thanks for your kind words about the poem. I've never seen "Big Love."
When I was twelve I traveled with my family through Salt Lake City, Utah, where the Mormon community is quite powerful. It is an open secret there that many of the multi-story houses have a father in common, and a different family on each floor. Interestingly, Salt Lake City is supposed to be a very cosmopolitan place because of the influence of returning missionaries, who have immersed themselves in the culture and language of the lands they have visited.
I'm not sure about sweeping old graves. In modern China, burials are far less common than cremation. I'm not sure how this affects the tomb sweeping ritual.
And thanks, Changye, for pointing out the interview. As I mentioned on twitter, the photo nicely highlights my receding hairline ;-)
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
March 31, 2009 at 6:40 AMHi obitoddkenobi
Thanks for a fascinating personal observation. Zhou was not a saint by any means, but he did moderate some of the worst insanity of the Cultural Revolution.
The deaths of beloved leaders are often politically touchy-- Hu Yaobang's death in 1989 was one of the triggers for the tragic crackdown of summer that year. The government worried that similar unrest might follow the death of Zhao Ziyang a few years ago.
Posted on: Introducing the Managers
March 31, 2009 at 2:46 AMHi stanimal
In the 给...介绍 structure, 给 is a "co-verb" and 介绍 is a verb.
我给大家介绍一下， 他是Pete。 Let me introduce [him] to everyone-- he's Pete.
现在，我把Pete介绍给大家。 Now, I'm going to introduce Pete to everyone.
现在我给大家介绍Pete。 Now, I'm going to introduce Pete to everyone.
All three versions are acceptable, but the first is the most common.
I hear you loud and clear about the need for threaded comments. In the meantime, I suggest using "control + F" to search the page. It's an imperfect solution, I know.
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
March 31, 2009 at 2:32 AMHi bababardwan,
Traditionally, Chinese culture has put a big premium on orthodoxy and the "correct" interpretation of classical learning. Contrast phrases like 名门正派, meaning orthodox, correct ways of doing things, with 旁门左道, heterodox, shady.
This is not to make an essentialist argument that "Chinese are too wedded to tradition," but just to point out that the preservation of "correct" interpretations has a long, fascinating history.This extends to geneaology, or as you mentioned, the Shaolin Monks.
Another note: my ancestors were Mormons. Among Americans, I'm pretty unusual in having records of my family history going back to the 1720s, when my ancestors arrived in New York. Mormonism is quite powerful in Taiwan, so I'm sure there is a good deal of family research there.
Finally, when your ancestors are dead, I think they can smoke all they like!
Posted on: Clearing the Table
March 31, 2009 at 2:09 AMHi stanimal,
Grammar expert jiaojie explains that:
When they carry the sense of repeated action, 再shows that an action is being repeated or continuing but has not yet started. 又 means that the action has already occurred.
This sounds complicated, but it's not. Here are a few examples：
你再唱一个吧！ Nǐ zài chàng yī ge ba！Sing another one!
他又唱了一个。 Tā yòu chàng le yī ge. He sang another one.
我想再睡一会儿。 Wǒ xiǎng zài shuì yīhuìr. I'd like to sleep a little longer.
你怎么又睡了？ Nǐ zěnme yòu shuì le？How did you go to sleep again?
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
April 1, 2009 at 1:55 AMHi tommaz
Great examples. There is a chapter in Steven Pinker's book The Language Instinct all about this stuff. It's fascinating.
Hi user11443
Your comments about tomb-sweeping during the season of renewal reminds me of last week's poem about Grass. Death is a part of life, and it's around us all the time.