User Comments - Tal

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 9: Wang Plans Revenge

"...Japanesepod,

KoreanPod

HindiPod

CantonesePod..."

Why stop there? Surely the world needs Klingonpod, Elfpod and Ladaanpod.

And then Praxis can change its name to Babelpod!

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

Here's the perfect pic the lesson could have had - lol.

I have noticed that some Chinese people do get as attached to their pets in the extreme ways common in the west. My sister-in-law had a dog that that she was inordinately fond of. She fed it way too much and it became a little too fat of course, and apparently developed a breathing problem. When it suddenly died one day (seemingly a canine heart-attack) she was beside herself with grief, and still cries publicly at the mere mention of the animal. Her husband likes to make everyone laugh by saying that she still blames him for the dog's death due to his slowness in administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and his wife's expression makes you think that he's not entirely joking!

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

Kangaroo farming in Sichuan! A great business idea beckons miantiao. Just think of it dude, it could be like... Hudsucker Proxy, or something. Go for it!

Who said a pig eats its own faeces? Slander I say!

Oh yeah my favorite example of that awkward situation when a 老外 tells a 老外 joke to a Chinese friend, and they just don't get it, and don't even get why you get it or why it even could be funny, and then make you start doubting that it is funny and feeling guilty... and anyway the joke goes something like: "Please remember everyone, a dog is not just for Christmas! As they say in China, with careful planning there'll be enough meat to see you over the New Year."

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

Whoa daveyboy, is that the best you can do? You should come to China? ;-)

Anyway those nice girls making the clothes look pretty OK to me! (j/k)

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

pete said: "Our crazy global food economy is based on cheap oil, antibiotics for livestock and willful ignorance about what we eat."

You got it in one dude, (or should I say three?)... err... but I am curious as to how you'd fix it up if you were made king of the world. How do we feed 6 billion people on one little planet without doing it that way?

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

Well as someone who has come late to this I'd just like to say I wish I'd seen the original picture and intro. Please can you put it back at once! I hate to be left out of a chorus of disapproval! (Just kidding.)

Like most westerners (I guess) I feel differently towards dogs and cats than the Chinese do, and would never eat their meat. I have also of course experienced some of the distaste and revulsion some posters have expressed here about the way these unfortunate creatures are kept and killed in China, (and just about every other country in Asia).

However, the simple fact is that it is total hypocrisy to condemn dogs and cats being 'farmed' in such a manner, and yet to think it's okie-doke for others, e.g. cows, horses, pigs. (Pigs are actually rather intelligent I've heard.)

An interesting topic for discussion might be why we westerners think dogs and cats deserve a special 'uneatable' status, and why we think others should agree with us. Any ideas? My theory is that it's something to do with them being predators, makes them more like us maybe.

Also, and this really is the story, if you're "interested in China and things Chinese" from a long distance and have never visited the country or lived here for any length of time, you simply can have no conception that eating dog and cat (especially south of the 长江) are extremely deeply seated in Chinese people, who cannot comprehend our western idea of them being 'man's best friends' with attendant special status.

In my time (before I came to China) I have known one or two people who get misty-eyed about China in the way that we pampered westerners do get about our 'special interests'. This kind of feeling is fine of course, I'm not knocking out, I've been there. But my message is that you cannot comprehend Chinese culture without accepting it as it really is. If you want nice, clean, storybook China, if you want ugly images censored and a pleasant stay in the comfort zone, best stay at home and dream!

Posted on: About Face! A Multi-faceted Look at 面子

Thanks team for so very clearly rebranding (and rebuilding) QW. Dropping the jingles gives some more talk time perhaps, but its the care you've taken to add useful/interesting content that really shows through. We learn by doing!

Oh and it's really nice to have the language used written up and posted out front. Thanks Connie!

Posted on: Detroit

I was just looking at this amazing photo set. It reminded me of this lesson.

Posted on: Munich

@ bettine

"never had to be washed"? 天啊！

Posted on: Munich

aiyuguang said "does anyone have some examples of this word luanshuo"

Okie doke, let me have a try. How about:

别乱说，我当然没有爱上她了。Bié luànshuō, wǒ dāngrán méiyǒu ài shàng tā le. Don't talk nonsense, I definitely haven't fallen in love with her.

你肯定不了解你在说什么，所以不要乱说。Nǐ kěndìng bù liǎojiě nǐ zài shuō shénme, suǒyǐ bùyào luànshuō. You really don't understand what you're talking about, so don't talk nonsense.

我看不上那些乱说的人。Wǒ kànbushàng nàxiē luànshuō de rén. I dislike people who speak foolish gossip.

The guys in the lesson pic prove for me that Germany was colonized by leprechauns at some time in the distant past. Info on the comfiness (or otherwise!) of lederhosen from Germanic poddies might be interesting!