User Comments - pearltowerpete
pearltowerpete
Posted on: Illegal taxis
February 9, 2009 at 2:40 AMHi tools_and_resources
You're talking about a 钓鱼车 diao4yu2che1--- "fishing car". Don't get hooked!
Posted on: Illegal taxis
February 9, 2009 at 1:54 AMHi tvan
Oh, I'd love to do it, but we might have to change the 卡车 into a 货车 and the 咖啡 into 绿茶.
Posted on: Illegal taxis
February 9, 2009 at 1:33 AMHi tvan
Sounds like a lot of fun! Did you ever get a ride with "Big Zhou and the Phantom 309" ;-)
Posted on: Funny Business -- 搞笑， 好笑， 可笑
February 8, 2009 at 10:57 PMHi all,
Courtesy of Connie, here are the words and phrases from this lesson (and thanks, bababardwan and dunderklumpen, for your earlier contributions!)
搞笑gǎoxiào
搞笑的电影gǎo xiào de diànyǐng
搞笑的youtube clip gǎo xiào deyoutube clip
搞笑的明星gǎo xiào de míngxīng
这个人真搞笑。zhège rén zhēn gǎo xiào.
可笑kěxiào
我听过一件很可笑的事情。有人做了一个金马桶。
Wǒ tīng guo yī jiàn hěn kěxiào de shìqing. Yǒu rén zuò le yī ge jīn mǎtǒng.
好笑hǎoxiào
好好笑哦！Hǎo hāoxiào o！
这个笑话一点都不好笑。zhège xiàohua yīdiǎn dōu bù hǎoxiào.
这个笑话很好笑。Zhège xiàohua hěn hǎoxiào.
幽默yōumò
他是个很幽默的人。Tā shì ge hěn yōumò de rén.
他说话很幽默。Tā shuōhuà hěn yōumò.
--Peter, 你觉得你自己幽默吗？
--Peter, nǐ juéde nǐ zìjǐ yōumò ma？
--还好吧。
--hái hǎo ba.
--真谦虚。
--Zhēn qiānxū.
Posted on: 中国崛起
February 8, 2009 at 6:13 AMHi tgif
It's my pleasure (and my job ;-)
As for 暴发户, the 暴 in this word captures the suddenness and intensity (暴雨,暴雪), the 发 is from 发财, and 户 refers to a household or person. So this is a very clever word, I think. I avoided "nouveau riche" or "arriviste" because, again, I wasn't sure that poddies whose native language is not English would find those words as clear as "new/old money."
The Beverly Hillbillies are a great example. So is Rodney Dangerfield's character in Caddyshack.
It is interesting that modern China doesn't really have "old money," as anyone with money got it after China started economic liberalization. Hence the naked consumerism and intense desire for famous brands and ostentation to prove that one has "really made it big." These are not so apparent in societies where the wealthy have had a long time to get accustomed to their riches and often keep a low profile.Someone said that the fiercest status competition occurs in the societies that try hardest to extinguish it. The former Soviet Union is another example.
Of course, even in societies with old, wealthy families, many act in a very vulgar way (see Paris Hilton!)
Posted on: Thoughts on Returning Home 回乡偶书
February 8, 2009 at 2:21 AMHi bababardwan and user35883
I appreciate your kind words. Bababardwan, the phrase is 物是人非 wu4shi4ren2fei1.
Posted on: 中国崛起
February 8, 2009 at 2:00 AMHi tgif
偏激 translates as "extreme" because when you look it up in the dictionary, the English definition is "extreme." Har har.
偏 means "tending to, or on the xxxx-side." Someone who's chubby is “偏胖，” etc. 激 means "to charge forward, or to be intense, sharp." Something 偏激 is literally "tending towrard the extremes," but we usually just say "extreme." The Chinese definition is 思想、言论等过火，不适当.
雷人 is a little trickier-- 雷 of course means "thunder" but here it means something that shocks or overwhelms people 人. This is a slangy, recent usage and may not appear in your dictionary, although it is popular with the young people today.
It is often used in a joking or exaggerated way, much the way we casually use words like "horrifying" or "awful" to describe waiting in line for 45 minutes at the bank or something.
Probably the most idiomatic American English translation would be "out of control" or maybe "off the hook." But we are striving for translations that are accessible to an international audience.
Posted on: Illegal taxis
February 7, 2009 at 6:18 AMHi missworldtraveler
This is an interesting question that actually touches on a recent change in Chinese grammar-- originally adverbs were followed by 地 , for example 非常地漂亮， but now they use 的. But let's not get into the whole 的/地/得 controversy right here, because it's not really that important.
More important for you is that the word taxi entered Mandarin through Cantonese, where 的士 sounds like "taxi." So now, in words that refer to taxis, the 的 is pronounced like “di," --打的，摩的 ， and so on.
Finally, in songs 的 may be pronounced "di" to preserve rhyme or make the rhthym easier.
Posted on: Illegal taxis
February 7, 2009 at 5:36 AMHi dunderklumpen
Off the top of my head, I can think of a few:
黑名单-- a "black-list．＂These sometimes appear on student BBS (bulletin board services）at universities, telling people to avoid a certain restaurant, etc. I'm sure there are other uses.
打黑工 pretty much like Swedish, I think.
黑店 a restaurant or shop that does shady stuff, cheats you, etc.
黑社会 organized crime.
Finally, since 黑客 is the word for "computer hacker," people sometimes say “我电脑被黑掉了-- my computer got hacked!"
Posted on: Illegal taxis
February 9, 2009 at 4:18 AMHi crazyfish
Thanks for sharing your insights with the community! Commenting is a really good way to develop and test your own opinions.
You really don't need to give tips or extra money to cab drivers. They don't expect it. And as long as they are on duty, cab drivers are forbidden by law to decline to take passengers, no matter how cheap the fare. That's the rules.
Shanghai is a sprawling city, and you will sometimes encounter a cab driver who honestly doesn't know his or her way around the other side of the river, or in a particular suburb. But generally they are willing to take a shot. They often call their buddy or boss to ask for directions.