What's your name? HUH?
Lantian
July 29, 2007, 03:04 PM posted in General DiscussionHUH? - Okay, I've been in China a couple years now, and tonight I couldn't get past, "What's your name?" !!
The context was a guy coming over and asking me if I wanted to play tennis with him. He said someone wanted to play singles, I said I was tired, then he asked again, I said, well okay. On the way over he asked my name, but I didn't know what he was saying! Finally, I said "jiandan shuo, sheme yisi?" He then said "ni jiao shenme ming zi". Okay then!
So now I'm kinda curious, what was he saying? It sounded like 'zhong' something something. Sorry to be so vague, but my mind was scrambling trying to figure out what he was saying.
It definitely was not the standard:
你贵姓？
你叫什么名字？
你叫什么？
你从哪里？
Well there is a slight possibility it was "cong na li" but I usually 'hear' that pretty easily. So the question is, how would guys ask in a very casual way, another guy's name? And anyone throw in some other variations, cause hardly anyone ever asks me my name by saying "你贵姓“？
henning
July 29, 2007, 04:12 PM你多种?
tianfeng
July 29, 2007, 07:30 PMmaybe it was 你多重？Like how much do you weigh. Seems like a great conversation starter. “你要不要跟我打网球？” “好啊“ “你多重？“ ok maybe not so good.
rich
July 29, 2007, 07:50 PMWhy would he ask 你几岁？ That is for asking children around or under the age of 10. Are you saying Lantian i s a little kid Amber? Now, be nice. ;)
Lantian
July 29, 2007, 10:42 PMNO WAY! - Is it that in China people love to ask age and weight?? Amber, you're so wrong. ;p Henning, what's that ”种“ mean? I've never heard that expression... That could be very much what he said!
teapot
July 30, 2007, 12:06 AMwhere does he come from? maybe he is speaking dialect. It may sounds totally different from Mandarin.
Lantian
July 30, 2007, 07:45 AMHi Teapot, no it was Mandarin. How would you ask your friend's friend their name? For example, if you are playing badminton with them?
Lantian
July 31, 2007, 03:08 AMYOU - Okay, if we don't figure this out.... just wait for the day you're in China...clueless at hello!!! :) Maybe the academic team could do some outreach to the guys (and gals) in the dev team. Hey, cookies and food makes magical programming stuff happen!
amber
July 29, 2007, 03:46 PMLantian, I think you're mistaken. He was saying "你几岁" (Ni3 ji3 sui4).