User Comments - pearltowerpete
pearltowerpete
Posted on: Welfare Lottery
March 31, 2009 at 1:52 AMHi changye
我也从来没买过，我认为被雷击的可能性比中大奖还大。
若干美国经济学者说道，假如穷人每个月把买彩票的钱投入的话，很有可能就不用向政府要饭，福利彩票就失去了意义。当然贫穷的来由很多，但不得不承认，买彩票的钱就是打水漂了。
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
March 31, 2009 at 1:18 AMHi chanelle77
Thanks for the link. The discussion following that lesson is at least as interesting as the lesson itself.
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
March 31, 2009 at 1:04 AM
Hi all:
Here is today's poem.
清明时节雨纷纷，
qīngmíng shíjié yǔ fēnfēn
路上行人欲断魂。
lùshàng xíngrén yùduànhún
借问酒家何处有？
jiè wèn jiǔjiā héchù yǒu?
牧童遥指杏花村。
mùtóng yáozhǐ xìng huā cūn
Posted on: Does it Have Bones?
March 30, 2009 at 8:35 AMHi changye,
What a fascinating bit of information. Thanks for sharing.
Posted on: Broken, Busted, and Smashed
March 30, 2009 at 3:01 AMHi bodawei,
Thanks for the detailed exploration of this term. I had a neighbor with this condition.
Hi tanick,
脑子坏了 can mean that you did something you shouldn't have, or that you went a little "crazy." And you can say 软件怀了-- it is a device that no longer functions as it should.
Posted on: Broken, Busted, and Smashed
March 30, 2009 at 2:59 AMHi paulinurus
We could translate "tough-talking women" as
说话很强势的女人
shuōhuà hěn qiángshì de nǚrén
Incidentally, while I share your appreciation of this type of lady, she would not be terribly popular in China, where the ideal is 百依百顺.
Posted on: Broken, Busted, and Smashed
March 30, 2009 at 2:57 AMHi henning
Jiaojie and I checked the 新华词典 and found the character you mentioned and that gesang so helpfully provided. It is used for glasses, cups, etc. and is marked as (口）， 口语 i.e. used in oral Chinese.
Posted on: Sign Here, Please
March 30, 2009 at 2:27 AMHi penhui
Chinese people definitely don't mind you using a Chinese surname.
There are many ways to pick one. Some choose one that sounds a bit like their foreign name (sometimes their given name, not surname.) A good example is the world-class Sinophile Jeremy Goldkorn of danwei.org, whose Chinese name is 金玉米-- the 金 sounds a bit like "Jeremy," while also conveying "gold." 玉米 means "corn." Not all foreigners are lucky enough to have a name that transliterates as tidily.
My own Chinese name is 何树斌. I was originally called 白龙 white dragon. That name was fun, but a bit 土 (earthy, unsophisticated.) My current surname is from my love of asking questions (and because my best Chinese teacher, also a foreigner, had that name). The 树 is for Mother Nature, and 斌 is 文武双全, both language and power.
Long digression, but it's an interesting topic.
Posted on: Clearing the Table
March 30, 2009 at 1:33 AMHi stanimal
Thanks for some good questions.
1) Here, the 再 means "again" or "more." (一）点 literally means "a bit, a little" but here it means "a few." Chinese often uses 一点 to soften a tone, with no real implication of "a bit."
2） I can't say whether I've seen 过来 more as a verbal complement or as the straight up "come over." Please note that I omitted it in the translation because "please bring over some more napkins" somehow sounded a bit harsh or impatient.
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
March 31, 2009 at 2:04 AMHi zhenlijiang,
Yes, apparently, Tomb Sweeping Day is often even more closely observed among overseas Chinese communities than in mainland China. Perhaps this is because when we are abroad, we crave things that allow us to feel rooted.
I wanted to cover the poem this week because the holiday is coming up on April 4. This way, the poddies have plenty of time to dazzle their Chinese friends by reciting this poem (which I found easier to memorize than many other poems in the series.)