Rubber bananas
johnb
July 16, 2007, 01:25 AM posted in General DiscussionA real life example of tones mattering...
I was in a coffee shop over the weekend, and a foreign guy and his Chinese girlfriend came in to order a cake. The guy spoke passable Chinese, and the entire transaction was done in Chinese. The funny part went something like this:
Clerk: 你要哪个？(which one do you want?)
Guy: 我要那个橡胶的。。。(I want the rubber one)
Clerk: 哦。。。(uh...)
Girl: 香蕉的吧！(the banana one!)
Banana (香蕉, xiang1jiao1). Rubber (橡胶, xiang4jiao1).
bazza
July 16, 2007, 08:14 AMGood one. hehe
rich
July 16, 2007, 08:57 AMWow, I'll watch that one when I'm buying my favorite fruit.... probably already did and didn't know it.. who knows.
KennyK
July 16, 2007, 09:18 AMmaybe that guy listened to the podcast on "buying condoms" too many times :P
AuntySue
July 16, 2007, 10:42 AMHe'd be in trouble in one of those restaurants that have realistic looking models of their dishes on display, he might actually be sold the rubber one. It's nice that the clerical staff help out in the shop when it's busy.
excuter
July 16, 2007, 10:55 AMI don´t like bananas anyway, but if I need some rubber for whatever I´ll shure be carefull now ;-)
danjo
July 16, 2007, 12:54 PMSometime last year a student of mine, who along with classmates had cooked me a delicious meal, asked me 香不香? I assumed she had said 想不想? meaning "would you like some more?" and said 不香. Oops.
azerdocmom
July 16, 2007, 07:57 AMGreat anecdote! Tone police back in business again!