User Comments - cinnamonfern
cinnamonfern
Posted on: How to Eat a Hairy Crab
November 21, 2011 at 3:23 AMMy friend made me eat a crab from a street vendor in Xiamen - it wasn't a hairy crab, but I had no idea how to eat it. We had no tools, so I had to bite through the shell to get the meat. Odd experience - but now I have no trouble eating crabs - even the roe (although I don't really like it).
Posted on: Shopping for the Wife
November 14, 2011 at 2:41 PMBrave woman asking her husband to buy shoes for her. I've tried on shoes in China and my shoe size has ranged from 38 - 40. I wouldn't dare buy shoes that I hadn't tried on first. Some 38s that I tried on were way too small.
Posted on: Buying a Book
November 11, 2011 at 3:02 AMAh－ thanks all! I hadn't heard of that omission before. :)
Posted on: Buying a Book
November 9, 2011 at 2:02 PMI have a question about the dialogue where she says: "讲什么的你知道不?"
What is the 不 doing on the end of the sentence?
Posted on: Housekeeping!
October 31, 2011 at 9:38 PMWhen "bù" (不) is in front of another 4th tone, it often is pronounced "bú" - 2nd tone. So it should be pronounced "bú yòng" - 2nd and 4th.
Posted on: Visa Issues
October 26, 2011 at 6:02 PMI'm not sure about the first pattern, but the measure word for exams is 次。 我学过那次考试。But I think you can get away with 个 as well.
Posted on: Detective Li 10: Final Mission (Part 4)
October 17, 2011 at 4:01 PMMaybe... 我知道错了. I was wrong about the bomb. The first part is the bomb location? “到大体后” is "到达梯后" - behind the stairs? “最爱” ＝ “最矮” － under the lowest stair? No ideas on whether those middle two sentences hold clues...though they probably do.
Posted on: The Basics of Feng Shui
October 16, 2011 at 9:27 PMThis is a famous Feng shui building in Repulse Bay in Hong Kong which was designed with a big hole in the middle. Why? One website I saw said that it was to allow a dragon who lived on a mountain behind the building to reach the sea, which the building faces.
The most famous building in Hong Kong with respect to Feng Shui is the beautiful Bank of China building - which supposedly has extremely bad Feng Shui due to all the angles and x shapes. Supposedly it looks like a meat cleaver.
Posted on: Detective Li 9: Final Mission (Part 3)
October 7, 2011 at 5:03 PMInteresting idea. I didn't realize that CO was flammable. But the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration gives it a flammability rating of 4 - which is the highest a material can get. So I tend to agree with you. :) (My one issue with the dialogue was that carbon monoxide probably wouldn't cause you to cough...you're far more likely to just get a headache and then pass out.) Poor Li Tanzhang - he might be permanently disabled if he survives this!
Posted on: Essential Math Terms
November 26, 2011 at 2:55 PMFun lesson! As an engineer I like the equations - but I always find numbers to be the hardest to understand when people are talking. My dream website is one where I can listen to an equation or number, either by itself or as part of a phrase, and then I have to figure out what they said. Does anyone know of a site like this? It would be great practice and I don't think it would be that difficult to develop.