User Comments - pearltowerpete

Posted on: Dreams of the Departed 陇西行

Hi changye and pgwilliams222

Thank you both for your illuminating comments on the character 胡. It's clear I did not dig deep enough in explaining it.

But thanks to diligent poddies like yourselves, the confusion is clearing away.

Posted on: Dreams of the Departed 陇西行

Hi pgwilliams

Good question, which I didn't explain perfectly in the podcast.

As it is used in the poem, the character 胡 means "barbarian." The traditional character 鬍 specifically means "beard or whiskers." The simplified character 胡 can also mean beard, as in 留胡子.

Hi lion74

Thanks for the poem suggestion. It seems a bit ambitious for a single episode of this series. But I am definitely going to introduce poetry by Du Fu.

Posted on: 小沈阳

Hi bendidelaowai

Thanks for your long, insightful comment. The bold sections you cited are very 口语, so let me explain:

我靠-- this is a substitute for 我操。 It's like saying "fug me!" in English.

被告了 in this situation means to be sued. (Note: I'm a little dubious about this claim, as the US has pretty strong freedom-of-speech laws, even for offensive or subversive speech.)

混 as it is used here means kind of "to muddle along, to get by"

可在美国，定价好几百的票最后不得不几十元处理了

But in America, tickets marked at hundreds of dollars had to be unloaded in the end for a few bucks (tens of dollars). The implication is that unlike Chinese, Americans will not pay for trash.

The author of the comment has clearly never sat in the front row at a Gallagher show.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Inner Mongolia

This truly is 山寨百利 -- a homegrown version of Baileys Irish Cream.

I wonder how hard it is to make...My post-retirement dream is to buy a still and make bootleg booze in my basement.

This has the advantage that most revenuers wouldn't suspect you could make alcohol from something so weird.

Posted on: 小沈阳

Hi jenny

Hmm...我还没看80-90年代的小品，但你那么幽默的人，说这些东西好看，我肯定要研究研究。

Hi wolamwong1

I disagree strongly with your assertion that the popularity of Zhao Benshan demonstrates some dishonesty or tendency toward fraudulence among the Chinese. Societies grow and change, and their humor changes with them.

Comedy is an expression and release of frustration with life's problems, large and small. Current Chinese comedy is hampered by political controls. But to say that this shows a cultural or psychological flaw among Chinese is an unsupported (and unsupportable) claim.

And I'm not really sure what old cultural standards you're mourning: foot-binding and feudalism? Or would you prefer 样板戏 extolling the virtues of revolutionary peasants and earnest factory workers? Would this kind of stuff paint a prettier picture of Chinese people's moral character?

Posted on: Personal Ad

Hi giannis

You're right to note that 胖 can serve as a 谓语, predicate, as in the phrase 我胖了. But in this context, it is indeed playing the role of an adjective.

Thanks, jiaojie, for explaining the grammatical terms.

Posted on: I want to buy this one

Hi wagnerosana

Jiaojie explains: If 这 is followed by a measure word or a number plus a measure word, it is generally pronounced "zhèi." But if it is used on its own, or directly followed by a noun, it is "zhè."

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 3: Prenatal Checkup

Hi huibert,

A big crowd in a restaurant is also a good sign, rather than an clue that you will need to wait a long time (which you rarely do, as Chinese food cooks quickly!)

Is your avatar from the 神道 in Nanjing? It looks like a military official to me...

Posted on: Personal Ad

Hi becky0liu

The literal translation of "to pan for gold，" or "to seek your fortune," is 淘金. But the English word "a gold-digger" describes a woman who is only interested in a man because of the money he spends on her.

Posted on: 小沈阳

Hi changye

我好像听说过，日本人有一句话叫做

“超越老师的水平就是最诚恳的表扬。”

不知道日语怎么讲但我觉得挺有道理。