User Comments - tiaopidepi
tiaopidepi
Posted on: Are You Happy, Content, or Delighted?
May 4, 2009 at 5:28 AM@tage: The radical (on the left) is 心. The phonetic is 夬. I don't know the origin of the word, but I'd associate "heart" much more with "happy" than "speed".
Posted on: Are You Happy, Content, or Delighted?
May 3, 2009 at 3:51 PM@tage: Look at the character 快 on Zhongwen.com: http://www.zhongwen.com/d/167/x214.htm. The character's meaning combines happiness, excitement and quickness.
Posted on: Are You Happy, Content, or Delighted?
May 3, 2009 at 3:14 AMHere's a rough translation of a passage I've seen attributed as "Ancient Chinese saying". I'm pretty sure my Chinese is not perfect as I relied heavily on a dictionary to translate. I welcome corrections on the translation. I'm pretty sure the sentiment is correct.
为了高兴就和啤酒。
为了快乐就结婚。
为了开心就做焙烧假。
为了幸福就园林。
If you want to be happy a little while, drink beer.
If you want to be happy for a few days, get married.
If you want to be happy for a week, roast a pig.
If you want to be happy your whole life, plant a garden.
Posted on: Getting Old Isn't Easy
April 29, 2009 at 5:26 AMI agree, learning Chinese does help with my memory. I used to forget all kinds of things all the time. Now I just forget characters, radicals, grammar, tones, etc.
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 5: Super Babies and Ultrasounds
April 22, 2009 at 2:35 PM@bodawei: Any story needs to be carefully evaluated, and I admit that this story is driving toward a particular conclusion. But most news about China is biased and heavily influenced by a particular ideology, whether it comes from the New York Times or a national source.
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 5: Super Babies and Ultrasounds
April 21, 2009 at 4:51 AM@matt_c: The law forbids sex-selective abortions. I don't believe it's illegal to tell the baby's sex but it makes a sex-selective abortion more difficult if you don't know the sex. China has a huge disparity favoring male births. If you can see the New York Times, read this: Chinese Bias for Baby Boys Creates a Gap of 32 Million
The city birth rates are not unbalanced like the country's as a whole. If your mate is in Shanghai that may have made the difference.
(Sorry about the weird fonts..)
Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?
April 21, 2009 at 3:09 AM@Pete:
As much as I try to not speak off-topic, I have to ask what you consider "good" single malt. Oban? Macallan? Talisker? Laguvalin, god forbid? Or maybe you're no longer laowai and you go for a popular, safe brand such as Glenmorangie? It's owned by LVMH so it must be good!
Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?
April 20, 2009 at 4:52 AMOpen a store selling deodorant, full-size shoes and American breakfast cereal. You'd make a fortune off the foreigners!
Posted on: GPS Fail
April 18, 2009 at 8:49 PMPeople place too much faith in computers.
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 6: Shopping for the Newborn
May 18, 2009 at 2:18 PM>> Why are only a small fraction using these boards?
Online message boards have been this way for 15 years. Volunteers often form the core of the community. Sometimes it's best for the organization to let the community set (and police) the tone of the message boards. In my job we're advise to let the users post first and most. I appreciate that CPod does the same.
A sad side effect is that so often people who just want to complain appear out of nowhere. Click on their name and discover fifty posts in two days and none after the free week expires. Almost all of the threads these people start are "trash".
Ah, but you asked "why". It's because people find it easier to be rude to a computer than directly to another person. No one knows who you are, you have no reputation to protect, and thus you are free to make a fool of yourself. The New Yorker cartoon said it best: on the internet, no one knows you're a dog.