太恐怖了！ (Scary)
bodawei
March 27, 2010, 12:33 PM posted in General DiscussionWhen driving along a busy road at night, suddenly someone riding a scooter veers across right in front of you, as though without a care in the world, .. the driver of the car yells 啊呀，太恐怖了！tài kǒngbù le (Wow, scary...!) No blowing of horns, no abuse, no social comment, just ... wow, scary!!
xiao_liang
Might be better to shout 你脑则坏了！(thanks chinesepod for teaching me to swear in chinese!)
bodawei
Hi Xiao_liang - of course a Western response is to shout and swear. I am intrigued that 'road rage' is pretty much unheard of in China (hence my post.) There are various possible cultural explanations for this behaviour, including 'I should not get into an argument with this person, I might need their help for something at some stage in the future'. Not that arguments don't occur in China! :)
I think that the most likely reason is a kind of fatalism that Westerners (since the Enlightenment?) find difficult to understand. Chinese people put a lot of happenings down to 'luck' (for want of a better word) - in any case they do not seem to think that the situation can change. Whereas we think that driver education could make a world of difference.
xiao_liang
Aha, I see your intention. Hmn, maybe that's just where you are? Seems very polite (at least, according to the girlfriend!).
bodawei
I have observed this behaviour in a dozen provinces. Driver behaviour does vary somewhat from place to place but the absence of road rage is consistent. Your girlfriend might have picked up bad habits in England. :-)
PS. Hong Kong is the least typical of China - driving behaviour is strongly influenced by British culture.
xiao_liang
That might be it. She's from 广州。 :)
xiao_liang
April 16, 2010, 07:42 PMMight be better to shout 你脑则坏了！(thanks chinesepod for teaching me to swear in chinese!)
suansuanru
April 16, 2010, 04:08 PMI think 太恐怖了 is widely used in spoken chinese.