User Comments - mark
mark
Posted on: Marco Polo in China
January 23, 2011 at 4:13 PMI am wondering about Marco Polo Syndrome. When I was in China, I didn't go out of my way to meet other foriegners. Is this MPS? [ I don't seek out other foriegners in other countries, either, for that matter. ]
There are a lot of crouds where foriegners kind of stick out (e.g. on the Beijing subway) but I think I am no more or no less friendly towards them than any other stranger. Is this early onset MPS?
Posted on: Flu Vaccination
January 14, 2011 at 11:50 PMIn movies with scenes that have Qing era soldiers, you often see 勇 embossed on the soldiers' armor. The soldiers that are dressed that way usually seem to be cannon fodder, though. I have seen this enough that I assume it was period dress, but I am not sure if it signified any more than the literal meaning of the character.
Posted on: The Glory of Labor
January 13, 2011 at 7:47 AM那，我认为我写的对。
Posted on: 不能说的事儿 2
January 13, 2011 at 7:41 AM可能性好像很小。
Posted on: Chinatown Diary
January 12, 2011 at 7:37 AMCantonese seems to be alive and well in San Francisco's China town (and Oakland's). My impression is that Mandarin speakers are more dispersed throughout the Bay Area.
BTW, when speaking Mandarin to someone who is bi-lingual in Cantonese and Mandarin, I often have trouble being understood. I think it is that we are both speaking a second language, and lack a native speaker's ability to compensate for non-standard accents.
Posted on: The Glory of Labor
January 11, 2011 at 3:37 PMDo you know 盼望，to look forward to something? Presumably, 盼到 is the fruition of 盼望。
Posted on: First Snow of the Winter
January 5, 2011 at 7:25 AMWhen I was in fifth grade, I moved from a place where snow covered the ground from October to March to one where it "never" snows. That year there was a fluke storm that brought some snow. It didn't stick to the ground, but all of the other students ran out the classroom door before the teacher could say, yea or nay, to experience the phenomena. The jaded ten year old that I was just stayed put with a, "It's just snow."
Posted on: A Visit to the In-laws
December 27, 2010 at 5:10 PM我好像很落伍了，Jenny不仅有丈夫，更加有宝宝。 恭喜恭喜！
Posted on: A Visit to the In-laws
December 27, 2010 at 4:04 AMJenny说了她的丈夫是加拿大人。我不知道她结婚了。一定会有许多失望的poddies，但是我想祝贺你。
Posted on: What's in a name?
January 30, 2011 at 4:19 PMI tried translating my family name to a single character, and used a phonetic transcription of my given name. I thought this was pretty clever. My family name is the name of a profession. Everyone I know calls my by my first name, though, which had a meaning in Roman times, but is just a sound today. So, my feeling is this is a fitting translation of my name. However, the reaction I get is, "em er, you could pick a better name", mostly. Oh well.
I've had better luck with a nickname, 老马， which is a mix of the initial sound of my given name and convention. Some co-workers called me this before I knew enough to know what they were saying, and it stuck.