User Comments - Tal
Tal
Posted on: Security Check in the Subway
May 31, 2010 at 3:56 AM这里不太安全。(It's very safe here.)
Surely some mistake?
Posted on: Mother's Day
May 10, 2010 at 4:36 AMWell living is mostly wasting time, 是吧? Anyway this is my lunchbreak, I'm in a 15-minute slot with nothing useful to do right now. How long did it take you to compose all the above? Have a good day!
Posted on: Mother's Day
May 10, 2010 at 4:25 AMzhen, if it irritates you just skip it. No need to snap back at an expressed point of view and suggest I expect your response to be mediated by our friendship. If you guys have the time to spend writing (the usual) inordinately long and verbose 49 (no, sorry, 55) posts about the cultural import of a single expansion sentence, then I'm happy for you, (no kidding!), but I still think that doing so speaks for itself.
period
Posted on: Mother's Day
May 10, 2010 at 4:18 AMIf you say something like 我的工作很辛苦 (wǒde gōngzuò hěn xīnkǔ), doesn't that have a negative, complaining tone?
Posted on: Mother's Day
May 9, 2010 at 1:56 PMWake me up? No mate, you guys are the best cure for insomnia I know of. Or you would be if I had the time to read through all this, (no wonder you lose count.) No sorry I try to get more learning-Chinese related stuff done these days. I'm envious though to be honest, I wish I still had such time to waste.
Posted on: Mother's Day
May 9, 2010 at 1:01 PM哇, 49 posts. 
Why don't you guys go on for another 49? It's so interesting and worthwhile... err, really.
Posted on: Mother's Day
May 9, 2010 at 5:21 AMAh yes, thanks jjinfrance. That's very likely. He did look a bit indignant though! Anyway would you agree that 辛苦 can be both positve and negative, or have I got the wrong idea?
Posted on: Monopoly, Uno, or Twister?
May 7, 2010 at 11:28 AMTardy response, sorry baba, only just noticed your question, And the answer is... I've never played Chinese Scrabble, he he! (I just came across that game when I was reading someone's blog.)
Back in the day though I was a bit of a demon at English scrabble, (no longer.) The secret of success in Scrabble is to learn all the permissible two and three letter words, (there are many outlandish ones that many players will never believe until they have them shown to them in the book,) and to learn sets of 7 letter words based around the most easily picked up 6-letter sets (like RETAIN, TORIES, etc). You'll remember of course you get a 50 point bonus if you get all 7 letters on your rack down at one go.
Strewth???!! I'm not actually sure that would be a legal word - lol.
Posted on: Mother's Day
May 6, 2010 at 2:05 PMWell... sometimes Chinese people will deny it or not accept it if you say to them:
"你辛苦了." Nǐ xīnkǔ le.
I remember saying this once to a guy who had been driving a school bus for hours and looked really tired. What I meant, or at least wanted to express, was something like "you've been working so hard and I'm appreciative", but he wasn't pleased and with a look of slight indignation replied: "不辛苦，没事儿，没事儿.“ Bù xīnkǔ, méi shìr, méi shìr.
I got the distinct impression that to him it had a negative connotation, perhaps suggesting that he wasn't up to his work or some such.
Posted on: Insecticide
June 3, 2010 at 7:31 AMOhh... if only we could combine those 2 products for maximum safety. But then how to be safe when not in bed? Maybe one should really just stay in bed all the time, give up on this life thing? Anyways here's my addition to the list.