User Comments - everett

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everett

Posted on: Take Some Medicine
June 7, 2011 at 8:08 AM

呵呵 :-)

Posted on: Take Some Medicine
June 7, 2011 at 7:58 AM

If you take the medicine in the form of nose-drops would you say 吃药？

Posted on: The Little Tadpoles in Search of Their Mother
June 6, 2011 at 6:30 PM

Thanks folks. The "pale face" comment really nailed what I was getting at. "Kimosabe is a pale face" says something like "Kimosabe is a pale face(ed person)", or "a (person who possesses a) pale face".

I'm really curious if this kind of construction (which I believe is called Bahuvrihi, from Sanskrit grammar) exists in Chinese. None of my all too elementary Chinese grammars mentions it as far as I can see.

Posted on: Consoling the Bereaved
June 6, 2011 at 8:33 AM

It's the difference between look/see or search/find respectively. The dao means the action was successfully completed or something like that.

Posted on: The Little Tadpoles in Search of Their Mother
June 4, 2011 at 6:44 AM

Could someone help me with this sentence? I understand it loosely, but would like to know exactly how it works.

你们的妈妈是白肚皮

My question is does this say:

Your mother is "white bellied".

Your mother is (a) white belly.

or does 是 just serve to say "has" here?

or some other way of reading it?

In other words, how is 是白肚皮 working there exactly?

Posted on: Mild Swearing
May 14, 2011 at 8:08 PM

Yeah, CP felt really fresh and exciting when it came out. You got the feeling they were recording in a closet with the microphone taped to a broomstick doing awesome stuff. It felt like: is something this great really possible? I hope those old shows'll still be available.

Posted on: Mild Swearing
May 13, 2011 at 5:25 PM

I love those old, unstructured lessons. That's what I'd call the classic CP format ;-) It's a nostalgia trip. That's not to say that I don't appreciate the absolutely amazing job John has done of putting structure into the lessons.

Posted on: 5000 Years of History
May 13, 2011 at 7:21 AM

I guess what I really appreciate about Chinese culture has more to do with its conservative side than innovation. I admire the preservation of old traditions, fine craftsmanship, learning, discipline... the sorts of things in the cultural revival among people who'd rather not choose between socialism and crass capitalism as the only alternatives.

Posted on: 5000 Years of History
May 13, 2011 at 6:49 AM

There are lots of more recent Chinese innovations. The electric scooter for example. And they are world-leaders in high-speed train development. Not to mention home appliances like soy-milk cookers.

Posted on: 5000 Years of History
May 9, 2011 at 6:29 AM

The photons might also be offended. They have a 13.7 billion year history but they hardly ever get mentioned.