User Comments - pulosm

Posted on: Instant Noodles

siciliazhang,

People who have a problem with dog-eating need to look closely at what they eat.  Why are dogs somehow superior to other animals, like cows or chickens?  Indeed, pigs have been shown to be smarter than dogs (actually, as smart as the average five-year-old!). 

Before we judge what other people eat, we might want to take a good hard look at our own plate.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hong Kong

punter888,

I'm not sure about that.  燒 is pronounced "siu", as you said, but it means the same thing as the Mandarin, i.e., "roast."  The word for pork in Cantonese is "ziu yuk" (cf. zhu1rou4).  While "ziu" and "siu" are very similar (indeed, the same tone, even!), they are distinct words.

I'd admire your fondness of chicken feet!  Ngo mm zong yi (I don't like it).  Mostly because I don't eat meat, though.  ;-)

Posted on: Wait!

architpol:

I think 宝宝 is meant to be read as "you."  You do this in Chinese a lot (and we do it in English sometimes when talking to children).  For example, you might say "Davie, Mom doesn't want to have to tell you again."  Mom here means "I."  It's the same idea.

Sorry if that wasn't helpful.

Posted on: Wait!

backfromcancun,

It is a Taiwan distinction.  Look it up on zhongwen.com.  There they have both pronunciations for words, and use the characters "guo2" (for guo2yu3) for Taiwan pronunciations and "pu3" (for pu3tong3hua4) for Mainland pronunciations.

This is a common pattern.  I.e., where first tone words in Mainland are pronounced second tone in Taiwan.

Posted on: Wait!

The most important phrase to know is:

chuang3hong2deng1 (to run a red light)

Posted on: China Fruit and Pre-Marital Sex

Does betel nut really go in the category with the rest of the fruits?  It's certainly not healthy.  It's a vile, vile habit.

Posted on: 旧金山

斯耀:

Maybe See's is very popular, but it's not the best!!!  Scharffenberger (also from Northern California/East Bay area) is better than See's and Ghiradelli's.  In my humble opinion....

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hong Kong

Wow, auntie68, thanks!!  I like when the dictionary can confirm and explain what I thought about subtle usages of words (doesn't happen too often).

If only it said something about 凤爪 being a Cantonese (or at least southern Chinese) dish and therefore having to pronunciation for that word sound similar to the Cantonese.  It wouldn't be the first time.  One other example I can think of is "mai dan", which is sometimes pronounced in Mandarin with almost the same tone as Cantonese even when the Mandarin tone on "mai" is technically different.  Right?

Anyway, I had never really thought about it until lordstanley pointed it out.  So, thanks, ls!

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hong Kong

lordstanley:

Good question.  This is my take on it.  In every other context, I would pronounce it "zhua3".  BUT, in this one context, I have only heard it pronounced "zhao3."  This is what we call in Chinese a type of 多音字 (duo1yin1zi4), or character with multiple pronunciations.  Unlike many such 多音字, the specific pronunciation is not tied to the meaning.  (Contrast this with 还, which means one thing when pronounced huan2 and another when pronounced hai2).

Now, my guess is that "zhao3" is preferred over "zhua3" in this context because the dim sum food is Cantonese.  In Cantonese, the word is pronounced zao....it's very similar to the Mandarin zhao3.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hong Kong

rash,

Hmm.  It sounds like an anglicism, that's all.  You will be understood, of course, but it doesn't sound like Chinese.

In Chinese, you don't describe food as "好", you describe it as "好吃".  That's why it sounds funny. If you say, "this food is good." You would have to use "好吃"