User Comments - sclim
sclim
Posted on: Strong
July 2, 2011 at 9:07 PMAnd sometimes it doesn't work, spectacularly. I don't know if you'd heard the joke about the 外国人, who was praised effusively by a guest about the elaborate meal he'd just served. Trying his best to put into practice his recent grasp of Chinese 客气,but was kinda vague about 成语,
他说:"不是,不是...只是小便饭!"
Posted on: Strong
July 2, 2011 at 8:47 PMMy wife, ever the master (?mistress) of the put-down, has a real beauty for obnoxious show-offs: "well you may be strong...but smell isn't everything". 哎呀! 真厉害!
Posted on: Lucky Day
June 30, 2011 at 5:57 AM(and to wotingyu too): 等一会儿; 下星期我当然要穿牛仔裤,牛仔衫,牛仔帽,牛仔靴...而且要听牛仔音乐,喝牛仔酒.哎呀! 终于我大概经历了真厉害的牛仔宿醉!
Posted on: Lucky Day
June 29, 2011 at 7:27 AMHey! I just learned the Chinese for "blue jeans". It was just a throwaway comment in the John-Dilu banter--牛仔裤. Haha "cowboy pants" -- that's hilarious. Calgary, where I live, is a牛仔 town, and during the first week of July will be the Calgary Stampede, and everyone will be wearing牛仔裤. I won't be able to get that phrase out of my head.牛仔裤!
I also thought it was hilarious when Dilu mimicked John allegedly trying to say Saxaphone before he learned the correct Putonghua tones to use. "*Waeñwaeñwaeñwaeñ SAXAPHONE". *I use the ñ with the tilde not to gve a ny sound but to try and aproximate how she says "wawawawa" with a very nasalized "ae" vowel, which is how Chinese people perceive Barbarian American speech!You learn so much cultural information from Chinesepod!
Posted on: Unlucky Day
June 29, 2011 at 6:32 AMCHINESEPOD TEAM: in the dialogue, the phrase天哪 ,when the mouse pointer is hovered over it, gives "tiān'a" for the pronunciation. Now, because of the last "n" of tian, it comes to the same thing, but perhaps the pronunciation guide should be changed to show "tian'na" or "tian na" or some similar notation to reflect that哪 should be pronounced "na" when seen in another situation, even not after a syllable ending in "n".
Posted on: Swearing at a Driver
June 29, 2011 at 4:37 AMI should also mention that despite my desire to be green, I wouldn't ride a bike in Calgary, where I live, either, because this stupid suburban city is so car-centric that the few pathetic bike paths that exist are obviously patch over afterthought jobs that are poorly thought out and tend to run out abruptly in the middle of heavy car traffic. Bike riders trying to share the road with cars in Calgary are regularly snuffed out by half-asleep car drivers who don't expect to see them there, or see them but don't notice them, if you get my drift.
Posted on: Swearing at a Driver
June 29, 2011 at 4:31 AMI don't know the political correctness situation in China nowadays -- I'm sure in the bad old days if you were a common peon riding a bike both the cop and the rich car driver would be down on you. But is the cop's sympathy to you due to the fact that times have changed and bike lane rules are to be followed, or is it merely because you are visibly a 外国人? I know in most Asian countries you take your life in your hands riding a bike rules or no rules!
Posted on: Unlucky Day
June 26, 2011 at 11:35 PMActually this kind of superstitious thinking is quite prevalent amongst Chinese gamblers -- maybe gamblers in general, I don't know. Once, many years ago, my girl-friend at the time had pigeon-shit land on her head from a great height. She was quite excited and, like your 太太, rushed to buy a lottery ticket. You got to admit, having a pigeon crap on you is not likely to make you kick yourself for being careless, so much as consider it a sign from the heavens, if you were so inclined!
Posted on: Unlucky Day
June 26, 2011 at 11:11 PMOK, bababardwan; maybe you're not just a steely rationalist, but really a Daoist Master incognito slumming at CPod. C'mon 師傅, 'fess up!
Posted on: Why is everyone looking at me?
July 2, 2011 at 9:12 PMI told you not to look. Ok, I'm starting a diet next week. After Calgary Stampede.