User Comments - DavidXuzhou

Posted on: The Surname Code

Some of Chinese characters has different pronunciation when be used as a surname, like:

解，we all knew it's jie3 in 解放军 (jie3 fang4 jun1). But for surname, it should be Xie4.

区，qu1 in 华盛顿特区 (hua2 sheng4 dun4 te4 qu1).

For surname, it should be Ou1.

仇，chou2，报仇（bao4 chou2). Surname, Qiu2

查，cha2, 检查（jian3 cha2). Surname, Zha1

秘，mi4, 秘密（mi4 mi5). Surname, Bi4

单，dan1, 单独（dan1 du2）. Surname, Shan4

朴，pu3, 简朴(jian2 pu3). Surname, Piao2

房，fang2, 房子（fang2 zi5). Surname, Pang2

Actually, the surname of my friend reminds me of this. His name is 解宝明. Every time when people take his surname as  谢(xie4), which is the same pronunciation as his surname, he usually use 解放军的解（jie3) to explain this character before people get confused. And then,1 minute explanation.

So, don't panic when your Chinese roomate spent 5 minutes on phone just to let the others know his name.

BTW, 我姓徐, 双人徐。

Posted on: 十月怀胎

I think “打胎" and "人流" used more often in spoken Chinese, which means abortion. Or phrase like "把孩子打掉" has the same meaning. (I know here the 打 is a little bit ... )

If you want to keep the baby by some medcine or other ways, that's called 保胎 in Chinese. I remember there was a kind of pill before, called 保胎药.

Posted on: Finding a Taxi

@rjberki, 出租车 (chu1 zu1 che1) can be understood by most people. You can do like the dialogue did in this lesson, 我要一辆出租车 wo3 yao4 yi1 liang4 chu1 zu1 che1.

Or, if you can speak Shanghainese, you can try wu2 yao3 ye5 bu5 ca1 dou5 :), oh, and if the concierge is a Shanghaiese.

@hajaralkhaled, it's better to and something into your sentence, "请问，您能帮我叫（出租）车吗？我需要去机场。"

Posted on: Finding a Taxi

Have anyone tried a 摩的 mo2 di1?

Posted on: Finding a Taxi

差头 is more used in Shanghai or Shanghainese. In Shanghainese, the 差 cha1 (pronounced as ca1 in Shanghainese) means to dispatch.

Posted on: SBTG: Health Class

Frank,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character#Formation_of_characters

Posted on: Sound Check

搞掂 probably comes from Cantonese, I guess. 

pinkjeans,

The only word I can remember about the 奠 on 'settled' meaning is 奠基(dian4 ji1, to lay a foundation). But just a little bit relationship between them.

奠 means memorial, sacrifice or the ceremony of memorial. It always been used when people die, just like uncle changye mentioned in his comment.

Posted on: SBTG: Health Class

Hi changye,

I totally agree with you about the meaning of 胞 and 包. But I don't think the 形声字 should belong to 会意兼形声字.

Chinese characters include Single Characters and Combined Characters. Combined characters can be divided into 会意字 and 形声字. 会意字 combined with two or over two single characters, and you can get the basic meaning (not sound) of this 会意字, according to the meaning of those single parts, like 盥 and 从.

形声字 combined with form (meaning) part and sound part, you can get a basic meaning and sound of this 形声字 according to the 2 parts, such as 露 and 铜.

And the 形声字 has different forms,
左形右声 (form left, sound right, like 铜 and 冻),
右形左声 (sound left, form right, like 削 and 瓢),
上形下声 (form on top, sound below, like 界 and 爸),
下形上声 (sound on top, form below, like 架 and 贡),
外形内声 (form outside, sound inside, like 固 and 病),
内形外声 (sound inside, form outside, like 问 and 闻).

Let's focus on the 包, what we call 字根 (root of the character). This single character can form a lot of combined characters with other different radicals, such as 抱，胞，鲍，跑，泡，炮. We can easily get the basic meaning and sound of these characters, 'cause they have the same root 包, which pronounced as bao1. Look closely, like 炮 or 饱, it's hard to relate them with the concept of 会意字. They are all 左形右声的形声字.

But, some characters are very difficult to distinguish, like 胞 and 闻, which can be accepted in both two different ways. So there comes the 会意兼形声字 (not only 会意, but also 形声).

According to the 《说文解字》, there are 1167 会意字. And 90% combined characters are 形声字.

So, I would say 会意兼形声字 actually belong to 形声字 or 会意字.

Posted on: SBTG: Health Class

guolanusa,

Those frogs were alive at that time, before we cut it. Oh, actually we did nothing to them but shocked just after our teacher finished his "samples".

And, the 胞 is a very typical 形声字. The left side radical 月, has the meaning of 肉, and the right side radical 包 has the sound.

There is also alot of chinese characters only has the 形 (form). It's very interesting and easy to memorize them. Try these out: 凹 and 凸.

Posted on: SBTG: Health Class

changye, 我第一次看到那个“先进性教育”的说法时，也引发了我的笑点，还有“群众性基础”等等。好想这些都无法避免的会产生歧义。

我的生物课回忆是，解刨蚯蚓的后一周就是解刨蝗虫，之后的第二周是解刨青蛙。很多同学（包括我）都受不了在青蛙的肚子上下刀，所以有的同学（包括我）都悄悄的把青蛙给放了。谁知道，两周后就是解刨兔子。有些女同学还故意请假不去上课，都不想伤害可爱的小兔子。