User Comments - Grambers
Grambers
Posted on: A Detained Package
September 6, 2012 at 10:54 AMI understand that "寄的是什么东西" is not (as I first heard it) "记得是什么东西“。 However, would that sentence still be right? It kind of fits in this context. "Do you remember what it is [that was sent]"....right?
Posted on: Buying Goods from Abroad Online
September 6, 2012 at 10:49 AM我又有“有什么区别”那种的问题，提前道歉一下：）
谣言和小道消息有什么区别，是怎么用的？
还有。。。
“我们三天两头吵架” 和 “大吵三六九，小炒天天有”有一模一样的意思吗？
Posted on: A Detained Package
September 6, 2012 at 10:23 AMI was gonna post a question about the difference between 受到 and 收到 but you seem to have already gone there, Mr Bardwan. Can I just clear this up, though? 受到 refers to intangibles...ie. you can 受到影响, 受到压力 etc.etc. But when 'receiving' a physical object, it's 收到？Do I have this right. I don't believe in all my years of plugging away at Mandarin that I've ever considered this Elementary-level issue before!
Posted on: Buying Goods from Abroad Online
September 6, 2012 at 10:16 AMWhat's the difference between 没收 and 充公, the word given for 'confiscate' in a previous Upper Intermediate dialogue (the one about 私房钱, if my memory is correct)
Posted on: Buying Goods from Abroad Online
September 6, 2012 at 10:14 AMArrrgh. Not another word which means 'to order' (凑单). 拍， 拍下，下单...I'm sure there were lots more....
Posted on: Regardless
August 31, 2012 at 3:32 PMThanks for this Qing Wen folks - and sorry it's taken me nearly a week to listen (and comment). I am now 100% clear on the usage of 'ye hao' - and may have spent many more months figuring it out by myself had this not been set straight. I thought it belonged in the 'enumeration' category, but now see that it shares a cosy and loving home with 'bu guan' and 'wu lun' (for some reason, my keyboard isn't letting me input 'hanzi' today - sorry!). Brilliant. Thanks so much.
Posted on: Regardless
August 31, 2012 at 3:29 PMHeehee. I noticed that too. Deng Xiaoping had a lot of crazy ideas, but an open door wasn't one of them! There was much metaphorical talk of doors and windows letting in a bit of light and fresh air, I recall, but the 'opening up' was less like an excited teenager flinging the doors of his parents mansion to his excitable classmates at an illicit house party, and more like a a frightened widower peeping open her front door to a group of Irish gypsies trying to flog her a new roof:)
Posted on: Manly Beards or Pretty Boys?
August 24, 2012 at 3:57 PMEqually ironic that your comment on a Chinese language lesson which contained lots of interesting new vocabulary has introduced me to lots of interesting new English vocabulary. I'll leave aside 'mudbloods', but 'purler' - this is a great word. I'd never heard it before. An internet search reveals it is, 果然, Australian slang. Marvellous stuff. Keep up the evolutionary work down there chaps. Sounds like your doing a splendid job.
If there's one thing you must give Australia credit for, it's language experimentation. It's not always 'inventive' language experimentation, I know (golden rule seems to be cut the word in half, add a 'y' or perhaps an 'ie' to the end, and off you go), but it's very charming - or should I say, 有魅力 - nonetheless!
Posted on: Manly Beards or Pretty Boys?
August 24, 2012 at 3:39 PMIt's just ironic that 97.45% of Chinese consumers have absolutely no 眼光 whatsoever:) It's equally ironic that that exact same percentage applies to British consumers too, which explains why Ikea is just so Goddam popular the world over. (That said, I would contend that the UK contains only a few thousand individuals who consider it cool to make their home look like a vestibule from the Palace of Versailles, circa 1919, whereas China contains about half a billion).
Posted on: A Detained Package
September 6, 2012 at 11:01 AMAha - I think we may have stumbled upon one of the most eternal, enduring, mystifying and utterly infuriating bones of cultural contention here. I do believe the vague, imprecise, ambiguous 'later, later'-style answer is actually an art form in China. I do not know of a single non-Chinese who has not complained on this point at some point in their China experience. Similarly, Chinese are almost as likely to find the 'Western' need (if I may momentarily fall into the trap of generalising terribly) for directness and absolute clarity deeply uncomfortable, as it is just not the way things are done in most situations in China. RJ's speculations on the possible reasons for this cultural clash are very interesting and very possibly right. My feeling is that this one goes way, way deep. Communism is only part of the story!