User Comments - pearltowerpete

Posted on: Stopping at a Friend's Farm -- 过故人庄

Hi wjefferys

Thank you for the background on the Shakers. I had no idea!

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 8: Trimming the Fat at the Office

Hi huibert

I'm not sure where your second sentence came from. It implies that Lao Wang had a squid that someone fried.

他炒了老王的鱿鱼 means "He fired Lao Wang."

老王被炒鱿鱼了 means "Lao Wang was fired." This is the correct passive construction.

If this is not clear, please just ask again.

Posted on: Good Morning!

Hi cedarlegal

Welcome to ChinesePod.

Billions of farmers throughout history have mastered Chinese-- you can too ;-)

Posted on: Personal Ad

Hi xemrac

同志 as slang for "gay" seems to have come from Taiwan. Many Taiwanese see mainlanders as very 土, earnest, uneducated bumpkins. They used the slang word to mock the clunky socialist rhetoric-- People's Communes, Comrade, etc.

It's interesting that America also has a history of smearing gays with association with communism -- "pinko commies," and so on. Sean Penn recently spoofed this in his Oscar acceptance speech.

Posted on: Seeing off an Old Friend 渭城曲

Hi sarahmue

Thanks for your enthusiasm!

Yes, in this phrase, 劝 is a verb. It means to encourage-- the speaker is encouraging his friend to have one last drink.

Posted on: Saved by the Gong: Cutting Open a Frog

Hi lotsofwordsandnospaces and rjberki

The Translation Cowboy had fun with this lesson. I just love that phrase. And I must say, it does remind me of a recent president.　Like his father, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth.

Posted on: Stopping at a Friend's Farm -- 过故人庄

Hi ilearnben

Thanks for sharing your insights and experiences. 我希望更多的中国poddies会跟我们分享你们的知识和心得. 写中文也没问题！

Hi pretzellogic

Welcome to the discussion!

And thanks for your constructive criticism. Let me explain my goal in this show. I try not to do "poetic" translations of the poems. This is partly because excellent translations of many of these poems are already available in English (and, I believe, many other languages.)

But more importantly, the point of a poem is not the words and phrases. It is the idea behind the words and phrases, which are just crude tools for expressing it. So instead of giving each student a pre-built house, I'd rather provide them with construction materials and a rough sketch, and allow them to do the building on their own.

Hi ancalagon

I don't smoke pot, either.

When I look at the reasons to oppose our War on Drugs, I think the thing that will hurt humanity the most is the environmental stuff: we should be exploring the potential of everything that Mother Nature provides. It's shameful for us to ban the use of a safe, "green" plant because it's related to the kind that makes Pink Floyd sound even groovier.

Hi zhenlijiang

Thanks for deepening our knowledge of 故人. These days, we're all tangled up in social networks like Facebook. We should appreciate the kinds of real friends who will invite us over for tea or 鸡黍.

Posted on: Stopping at a Friend's Farm -- 过故人庄

Hi zhenlijiang

Welcome back! I love to learn by watching poddies bounce ideas off each other.

Hi bodawei and chiongzibide

No offense intended! Any country with a Mandarin-speaking Prime Minister surely stands in the front rank of nations ;-)

There's one nice thing you can say about that nursery rhyme-- it paved the ground for the irreplaceable Mae West to say:

When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better.

Posted on: Dreams of the Departed 陇西行

Hi zhenlijiang

When I was in high school, I horrified my teacher with bawdy Latin haiku. But they are not safe for CPod!

This is a perfect place to send a thank you to Mrs. Sadlon, an incredible scholar and a wonderful lady who nurtured my love of languages and history.

She's probably not reading this, but she made a difference in my life.

Posted on: Stopping at a Friend's Farm -- 过故人庄

Hi bodawei

The word is pronounced xié in modern Chinese. But we can deduce from the rhyme of the poem that it was prounced xiá during the Tang dynasty. That is the reading that modern Chinese school children learn when they study this poem.

A similar example in English comes from Longfellow：

There was a little girl who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead

And when she was good, she was very very good

But when she was bad, she was horrid.

Scholars have deduced from this awful little jingle that "forehead”　used to be pronounced "forrid," instead of the modern "fore-head."

Hi obitoddkenobi,

Thanks for the positive feedback, and for reminding me of the Quaker tune.

Hi bababardwan

For some reason I couldn't see the picture when I first saw your comment. It makes more sense now ;-)

Hi Bill,

I have looked around for that book, with no luck. But I'm sure it's useful.