User Comments - pearltowerpete
pearltowerpete
Posted on: Eating Dead Flesh 猪吃死人肉
February 20, 2009 at 3:33 AMHi changye
There are a whole bunch of so-called "Confucius says" jokes, playing on the spare, abbreviated grammar of ancient Chinese. 子曰...
Many of them are too 黄 raunchy for mixed company, but most are just puns:
Man who runs in front of car will get tired,(playing on the 轮胎/累 homophone)
Man who runs behind car will get exhausted.
(playing on the 尾气/累 homophone)
A toilet can also be referred to as a pot, so someone standing on the toilet is literally "high" on the pot ;-)
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 3: Prenatal Checkup
February 20, 2009 at 2:25 AMHi kimiik
Lead time: 订货至交货的时间
the time between the beginning of a process and its end 产品从开始生产到完成的时间
Thanks to Jiaojie for clarifying.
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 8: Trimming the Fat at the Office
February 20, 2009 at 1:57 AMHi barto
To keep the comments board tidy, CPod corrects mistakes as soon as possible after they are discovered. Then we send a personal message thanking the person who noticed it. And finally we delete the post.
I believe I sent you a message. But if not, thanks again.
Posted on: Eating Dead Flesh 猪吃死人肉
February 20, 2009 at 1:53 AMHi bababardwan
I'm flattered! I was hoping that some listeners would become more interested in poetry. But I hadn't dreamed that people would start writing their own!
Confucius said:
He who stands on toilet, is high on pot.
Wrong quote! The one I was looking for was
学而时习之，不亦悦乎？
Learning and then applying what one has learned-- is this not a pleasure?
Posted on: Beauty Pageant Registration
February 19, 2009 at 11:12 AMHi calicartel
In dictionaries, 男生 and 女生 technically mean "male or female student." But in daily life, they refer to young males or females, whether or not they are going to school.
It's like how even adult Chinese will address a school age person as 同学, even when they are obviously not classmates.
Also, when you ask someone their dog or cat's sex, you can show some respect or warmth by asking if it is a 男生or 女生.
Posted on: Eating Dead Flesh 猪吃死人肉
February 19, 2009 at 2:16 AMHi thinkbuddha and baiwenkai
Thank you both for sharing your insights. Some have suggested that the "lotus living in boiling water" is equivalent to the English expression...wait for it..."when pigs fly!"
And baiwenkai, I'm flattered to hear that you're interested in Han Shan now. He's a mysterious, transient figure. We can't really confirm the authorship of some of his works. If he really wrote everything attributed to him, he'd have needed to live more than 100 years. And a lot of his works were first written on trees and cave walls.
Posted on: Expired!
February 19, 2009 at 2:08 AMHi habensie
You're right-- technically. The 现代汉语词典 gives "tǔ" for intentional spitting, and "tù" for vomiting. But Jiaojie and Connie both say that they don't make that distinction in daily life. They use the words more or less interchangeably, although 呕吐 is definitely a fourth tone.
This is doubly tricky because these expansion sentences have no context, so we can't really tell what's going on.
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 3: Prenatal Checkup
February 19, 2009 at 2:00 AMHi bababardwan
Nope, you just type one word. I tested it just now and it works for me...
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 3: Prenatal Checkup
February 19, 2009 at 1:45 AMHi all
A flood of comments overnight! Great. I'll address the questions one by one.
Hi bababardwan,
I wonder if the duplication in that expansion sentence you saw is related to the new traditional characters function or something. Because on my screen I just have the sentence:
老板一个劲儿地催，看来不加班不行了。
Here, 看来 just means "it looks like." The second part of the phrase is a useful grammar structure: 不————不行。 It means that you must do whatever the verb in the middle is, otherwise, 不行. So the phrase means "It looks like we'll have to work overtime （implying, there is really no other choice).
Hi qingdaoadventuresdotcom
It sounds like your company is doing fascinating work. A very conservative, sometimes religious view of medical ethics has stunted the stem cell debate in much of the West, including the US. There are definitely concerns worth discussing, but we do need to balance these against the impressive benefits to humanity that are possible. Please note, all, that the word "stem cell" in Chinese is 干细胞, and that the 干 is fourth tone. Perhaps this implies that these cells are very 能干, capable ;-)
I translated 特地 as specially and specifically because I very rarely hear anyone saying "expressly." To my ear it sounds like British aristocrats in the 1930s. But I agree, it is a valid translation.
Hi tgif and chistudent
"I stand corrected," said the man to his chiropractor. I had not considered mutations due to environmental factors that affect genes. Point taken.
One small point, tgif-- I don't believe the 超 in B超 means "mode." 超 is 超越的超, to exceed, go over, etc. So it means "ultra." Ultrasound can also be literally translated as simply 超声.
Finally, 超 is often used in modern oral Chinese as a substitute for 很-- 这个东西超好吃, etc.
And thanks, bababardwan and jimijames, for an interesting discussion of the Chinese terms for doctors.
If I've missed anyone's question, please remind me in a PM or on the message board.
Posted on: 风水与五行
February 20, 2009 at 5:34 AM国外偶尔会很流行亚洲宗教和哲学，例如六十年代印度教特别受青睐，而八十年代武士道很受尊敬。
有那么一阵子好像美国富豪，明星等很流行讲究风水，尤其是加州那个地方，本来就更容易相信人可以用水晶，宝石什么的来协调环境。现在好像已经过红了，没什么人很在乎了。
不过jenny老师说的对，他们以和谐为主而不怎么讲迷信方面。对美国人来讲，武士道也好，风水也好，都有点异域风情。