User Comments - aert
aert
Posted on: Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant
February 21, 2008, 10:52 AMPS Bababoo. There is a story about a missionary who had more or less learnt the language of the tribe he was sent to and started his preaching with the words "we (excl.) are all sinners etc." His audience concluded that he belonged to an unpleasant tribe.
Posted on: Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant
February 21, 2008, 10:32 AMbababoo It is the right expression in those dialects that do not make the distinction between the inclusive and exclusive "we". Apparently some speakers lost the distinction but interestingly still feel the inclusive zámen as "more friendly". This is a new development. Just look in any Mandarin Chinese grammar.
Posted on: Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant
February 21, 2008, 08:23 AMsparechange zámen is used when the person you talk to is included in the group referred to as "we", wǒmen if (s)he is not. Example: wǒmen shì běiffāngrén, nǐmen shì nánfāngrén, zámen dōu shì zhōngguórén "we are northerners, you are southerners, we are all Chinese. The Beijing dialect is the only Chinese one that distinguishes the "inclusive" (zámen) from the "exclusive" (wǒmen) "we", but the distinction is not uncommon in the languages of the world.
Posted on: Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant
February 20, 2008, 05:11 PMhi jennyzhu Does't this connotation depend on the context and/or situation? What about bǎ shū bāoqilai "wrap up (a) book(s), bāoshàng shāngkǒu, etc? Maybe it goes for bāo used strictly by itself or preceded only by bèi?
Posted on: 简体字与繁体字
February 20, 2008, 04:12 PMhi John The scripts in the pictures were interesting to look at, but neither is like the one on Sher's picture. On the latter only the old radical 123 yáng is easily identifiable. Of your pictures the top one might as well be Mongolian as Chinese as far as I am concerned. The bottom one, starting from the top of the right column starts with huǒ dào "smoke passage, flue", a once used compound listed in Oshanin's Chinese-Russian dictionary (which gives only the more common ones), but which I did not find anywhere else. On Sher's picture the strokes look like real tadpoles: a clear round head with a thinner tail which shrinks towards the end into a sharp point. BTW an earlier comment you added reminded me of signs "4 sale" I saw in the US and Canada. There is something to be said for characters as well as for simplification.
Posted on: 简体字与繁体字
February 20, 2008, 11:01 AMPPSS Sorry, I missed the other link. But even the tadpole one looks quite different from the one reproduced by Sher. Unfortunately I cannot transmit pictures. As a matter of fact, I have for some time been without a working printer and write the few letters I have to write by hand.
Posted on: 简体字与繁体字
February 20, 2008, 10:43 AMPS The author (A.Ya Sher) also mentions that for writing a small pointed bamboo stick was used, which was dipped in a special kind of laquer. I think a little blob was dropped on the bamboo from which the rest was drawn in the desired direction.
Posted on: 简体字与繁体字
February 20, 2008, 10:32 AMHi Changye Thanks for the link. The bird script looks quite different from the tadpole one. I wonder if this zoo has more inhabitants. My Russian source says that according to tradition, a prince Lu Gongwang wanted to rebuild his palace and to add Confucius' old house to it. When this was demolished, the bamboo slats with tadpole script were found.
Posted on: 简体字与繁体字
February 20, 2008, 09:00 AMhi everybody Many thanks to Chinesepod and users for a fascinating lesson and discussion. I want to add one writing style which I found mentioned (and shown) in a Russian book of 1968. It was found in the early Han period in the walls of Confucius's house when this was demolished and was hence called bì zhōng shū. The strokes of this script look like tadpoles (due to the writing technique), and is now known as the kē dòu shū. I have nowhere come across another reference to this script. Can anyone provide a link to a site with more information?
Posted on: Bank Hours
February 24, 2008, 09:55 AMCpod staff and users Due to an emergency I am leaving by train for Amsterdam today and by plane for Vancouver tomorrow, I don't know for how long but have a return ticket for April 2/3. I won' t have access to the internet there. But in the hurry of the preparations I have not forgotten to extend my CPod subscription. I'll have a lot to catch up with. Best to all of you.