User Comments - matt_c

Posted on: Christmas Surprise

@lajiao  In China, iphone is just iphone. As you can see on the TaoBao cell phone search page, other phones such as Sony Ericsson 索尼爱立信 suǒní àilìxìn are written in Chinese, but iphone is still...iphone.

In this case iphone was pronounced the way Chinese people say English loanwords when talking in their native tongue.

Posted on: Christmas Surprise

Having just upgraded to the new macbook, I figured I'd hold off on ordering my iphone (despite it being subsidised) so as to get maximum kicks over a longer period of time.

If you had to get get two new toys/tools, would you prefer to get them both at once (providing they weren't complimentary products) or would you prefer to prolong the joy of getting new things by staggering the purchases?

Oh yeah, we don't do Christmas gifts at our house anymore, we just have a great time together. :-)

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 1: Officially Pregnant

@Changye  roflmao

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 1: Officially Pregnant

Poddies,

谁穿过防辐射的衣服

Shéi chuān guò fángfúshè de yīfu?

Posted on: Chinese Hospitality and Finding Vegetarian Food

@changye   
well contrary to my carnivorous nature, I think I'd prefer to bathe the child.

Interestingly enough there were a few resilient people around during those periods of starvation who took their families to areas near natural water sources - where there was no short supply of aquatic creatures to survive on.

Posted on: Always in Chinese: 总是 (zǒngshì) and 老是 (lǎoshi)

@changye  hehe. yeah I was too lazy busy to look it up in the dictionary, but this has indeed been an enjoyable exchange.

Posted on: Always in Chinese: 总是 (zǒngshì) and 老是 (lǎoshi)

@changye

Thanks mate, an interesting take - one that will certainly make for light dinner conversation upon my next visit to Língbì (灵璧) for the Lunar New Year (春节).

:-)

Posted on: Always in Chinese: 总是 (zǒngshì) and 老是 (lǎoshi)

@fangaili

In this case the 是 shì in 老是 lǎoshì can be treated as a neutral tone and thus doesn't require a 4th tone mark. I might add, that whether or not to mark the tone in cases like this is cause for much debate.

Here's a search page for some related info.

Posted on: Always in Chinese: 总是 (zǒngshì) and 老是 (lǎoshi)

A cute phrase for 'peeing' or 'peed' in a northern Anhui (灵璧  língbì) dialect is 尿C了. The C is pronounced like how the non English speaking Chinese pronounce it - more like an American 'say'. In Lingbi, sounds like the 'sui' in 随便 sound like the 'C' in ’尿C了‘. So I'm assuming its niàosuīle, however neither my wife nor other locals actually no which character this word represents.

Changye have you come across this before in your explorations?

Posted on: Chinese Hospitality and Finding Vegetarian Food

Went to the 'veg' restaurant at the 文殊院 wénshūyuàn (monastery) in Chengdu and was disappointed, despite all the good reviews I'd read about it. The creativity and presentation was awe inspiring but the flavours just didn't cut it.