User Comments - cinnamonfern

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cinnamonfern

Posted on: Sleepy
March 27, 2011 at 11:51 PM

I had the exact same thought!

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student
March 27, 2011 at 7:18 AM

Haha - and they proceeded to melt into the pavement from embarrassment. :D

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student
March 26, 2011 at 11:59 PM

I don't think that's right - but it might be. It seems like it could be used by friends of both genders. In a recent CPod lesson, a guy friend calls a girl 美女.

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student
March 24, 2011 at 3:04 AM

Thanks Connie! That's very literal. :D

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student
March 24, 2011 at 2:32 AM

Rankings are also important in Hong Kong and Korea. Most of the professors here in HK graduated from and then send their kids to famous U.S. (or UK) schools. There is a really famous university in my home state. And everyone thinks I'm a grad student there because they don't realize there are two with similar names. So people are often falsely impressed. Of course...I don't think you get a better education at these famous schools. In some ways it may even be worse because of larger class sizes, less interaction with professors, etc..

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student
March 24, 2011 at 2:23 AM

How do you say "visiting scholar"? Everyone thinks I'm a 大学留学生 so I usually just let them think that. But I'm not really, I'm only here on scholarship to do research - no classes (I'm a grad student in the U.S.). I have a really hard time explaining this to people.

Posted on: Handsome Foreign Student
March 24, 2011 at 1:57 AM

I first learned 帅哥 and 美女 from my Chinese friends in the U.S. My Portuguese friend proceeded to say just those words at random times. It amused my friends. Anyway, I got the impression 帅哥 and 美女 were just nice, friendly general terms for youngish guys and girls, respectively. A cashier at a supermarket in China called me 美女 when she asked where I was from. It's not weird. :)

Posted on: Sleepy
March 22, 2011 at 4:34 PM

Yep - it's based on context! I once asked this question - this is the answer Jenny gave me:

"无聊 and 没意思 can both mean "bored", but they can also mean "boring". To make the distinction, you can use the word "觉得”, which means "to feel".

他觉得很无聊、他觉得很没意思 clearly means "he is bored". "

Hope this helps!

Posted on: Car Crash
March 22, 2011 at 6:12 AM

My Chinese friend and I were driving on the expressway from Shanghai to Hangzhou, and we saw an accident where a car had rear-ended a taxi.  The drivers were both arguing in the middle of the expressway and as we passed, the very angry taxi driver was holding a long pipe and at one point looked like he was going to hit the other driver with it.  We were both astonished.  But he apparently decided better of it.

Posted on: Food Poisoning
March 21, 2011 at 1:23 PM

A transcript for this lesson is available here:  http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/11496