User Comments - pearltowerpete
pearltowerpete
Posted on: Saved by the Gong: Chemistry
February 9, 2009 at 7:14 AMHi mikeinewshot
That's for sure! And there are still some disputes among native speakers about the proper pronunciation of 着 in different situations, such as landing an airplane 着陆 zhuo2lu4 / 着陆 zhao2lu4.
Posted on: Health Check
February 9, 2009 at 7:09 AMHi wchan
According to my 现代汉语词典 from 2005, 富贵病 is:
俗称需要长期修养和滋补调理的某些慢性病
也许中国社会科学院语言研究所搞错了吧。
Posted on: Saved by the Gong: Chemistry
February 9, 2009 at 5:21 AMHi mikeinewshot
I asked Jiaojie, who confirmed that 着 should be pronounced zháo here. It comes from 着火-- to be on fire.
Posted on: Pre-Valentine's News
February 9, 2009 at 5:19 AMHi hailun,
Thanks for a great list of ideas. In our quest to provide useful material for our listeners, suggestions like yours are very valuable.
I can tell you right now that two of the topics you have suggested are already in the works for the next few weeks. So stay tuned to future "News and Features!"
Posted on: Surfing the Internet (original)
February 9, 2009 at 5:17 AMHi dongni
有意思 and 有趣 are interchangeable when they mean "interesting." But 有意思 has other, broader meanings, including "to have a crush on someone,＂"to be funny," etc.
A soon-to-come-out Qing Wen will explore this in greater detail!
Posted on: Health Check
February 9, 2009 at 5:09 AMHi bababardwan
I just had a good chuckle reading the story you linked to.
The actual discovery of diabetes was by a scientist who noticed that ants seemed especially attracted to the urine of dogs who'd had their pancreases removed. The name "sugar urine disease" really makes sense in this context.
Posted on: Funny Business -- 搞笑， 好笑， 可笑
February 9, 2009 at 4:43 AMHi wjeffreys
Jiaojie and I discussed your question. Her response is
intransitive verb 是后面不能加宾语的动词， 和stative verb 不一样。
我脸红了', "my face got red." 和 东方红的“红”是 形容词做谓语。
An intransitive verb is a verb that cannot take an object after it. It's different from a stative verb.
In "我脸红了- my face got red," and "东方红-the East is Red," "red" is an adjective being used as a predicate.
Posted on: Health Check
February 9, 2009 at 4:37 AMHi wjeffreys
There are so many rich histories in the poddie community.
As it is being used in the dialogue, 外科 means "surgical department" or "department of external medicine." A surgeon is generally a 外科医师.
Chinese is a little funny about the way it refers to "seeing a doctor." The first phrase in this vein that most students learn is "看病” which definitely doesn't mean "to see a sickness” ；－）
Posted on: Health Check
February 9, 2009 at 4:24 AMHi chinkerfly,
Cholesterol is 胆固醇 dan3gu4chun2.
And I agree-- I think an American doctor would be more likely to explain the action that you should take ("You need to consume fewer calories, work out more, etc.") than to just say that "you're too fat."
Obesity and perceptions of beauty are inversely related to the availability of calories in a society. So being pudgy has been considered sexy in countries where most people don't have enough to eat, whereas being thin is the ideal in countries saturated with 99 cent cheeseburgers and corn syrup. The point is that "you're fatter since last time I saw you" is a definite no-no in the West. But until recently, at least, it was a great thing in China. So there may not be quite as strong a negative connotation here.
Posted on: Health Check
February 9, 2009 at 7:16 AMHi chistudent
Thanks for clarifying that. We try our best to be factually accurate but none of the office staff are medical specialists. So we rely on the poddie community to help us stay on track.