User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: You've been everywhere!

Seems a pretty good translation to me - it's not literal of course, but it conveys the meaning and I don't think I could improve it. Am I missing something?

Posted on: Using Excel

lazy bugger! .. :)

Posted on: Dropping Marriage Hints

' by implying I'm not happily married (which, just to be clear, is not the case :-) ).'

Way too many double negatives, Chris. Confuses native speakers, let alone those with English as a second language. :)

Posted on: Annoying Popups

'http://chinesepod.com/lessons/computer-problems-and-tech-support#discussion-tab'

Those were the days - lots of comment ...

'..so you might find some discussion there interesting.'

I did find it interesting - how after 2 1/2 years I have pretty much forgotten what transpired back then! All that chat with changye and yourself. The expression 中毒 was familiar (as I have since learnt and re-learnt it) but ... Baba - I admire how you remember these things!

Posted on: Issues with Flavor

Huh ... this is dangerously off-topic, but this 'confusion' happens in other languages. I am trying a little survival Norwegian and I have noticed (reading ingredients lists on packets of food) that 'aroma' apparently means 'flavour'.

Posted on: The New Intern

Hi Keth

'大卫 for David . Why not 大为？'

There are a number of transliterations of David, including 大为 and 大伟. I remember 大卫 from old Chinese language textbooks for English speakers, but it is not necessarily the most common.

I think that the Chinese variations of David are in a somewhat different category to many transliterated 'English' names - the difference being that some Chinese parents call their baby boys Dawei. One little boy called Dawei lives in my 小区 - he was out for a walk one day with his father and I overheard him referred to by name. I spoke to him & said 'I am also called Dawei' - the father seemed delighted that we have the same name, but the little boy looked doubtful about sharing his name with an old 老外.

Posted on: Annoying Popups

Thanks sclim

I can remember when computer viruses first appeared on the scene and there was a good deal of puzzlement - what are they? how do they come about? what do I need to do, to avoid being infected? It took a long time to educate the general public about them.

Recently I listened to an interview with a computer virus expert and I was surprised to hear him admit that he uses free anti-virus software, but he monitors it constantly. (Maybe he did not want to make a recommendation that could be perceived as commercial.) I wonder - are computer viruses analogous to my understanding of termites - it seems that it is necessary to monitor constantly, and not safe to put your faith in an expensive 'black box' solution.

Your post describes something similar in the case of the infectious organisms that computer viruses are likened to - so interesting, thanks again.

Posted on: The New Intern

Hi Chris

I remember those discussions a while back now about what makes a good community (when the dashboard was being implemented) ... there is a recipe no doubt including good interesting learning material, a functional space to communicate in (that was the issue at the time), a critical mass of people with time on their hands, desire, and at least a few people with a shared sense of humour. It was interesting when we managed to engage one of the ChinesePod team as well.

Posted on: Annoying Popups

'染上病毒'

Thanks podster - I guess like we've said elsewhere about 中毒, this is a general expression and, given a specific context, it can mean being infected with a computer virus.

Posted on: Annoying Popups

'病毒 are computer viruses'

Thanks Mark. It is not exclusively computer viruses though, any kind of virus is 病毒 I think. So as in many situations context (like sitting in front of a computer) is important.

My guess is that 中毒 was around long before computer viruses became common knowledge - agree? It originally meant getting poisoned (or as podster says, getting food poisoning), or contracting a virus. Now it also means getting a computer virus?

Thanks for pointing out that the contraction is at play here - contractions inevitably cause ambiguities.