User Comments - pretzellogic

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pretzellogic

Posted on: A Complicated Cab Ride
August 17, 2012 at 12:57 AM

for cities like Beijing, the problem is also that taxi drivers frequently come from the provinces, and don't know Beijing that well. I had a taxi driver once that didn't know where the Bird's Nest was. Poor guy called back to his dispatcher to ask how to get there. Us lucky passengers get the luxury of not knowing where stuff is (but then I guess we pay for it if we get there in a roundabout way).

Posted on: Unique Professions (Part One)
August 16, 2012 at 12:47 AM

For example: two guys walk into a bar. Then a Chinese guy walks over to the first two guys.

Another example: a scientist grabs a beaker to start an experiment. Then a woman scientist comes up behind him and breaks another beaker over his head.

In these examples, the Chinese guy and the woman scientist are "marked". Different from the assumed norm. For more information, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markedness

Posted on: An Athlete's Strengths and Weaknesses
August 16, 2012 at 12:37 AM

I'm undecided between laughing and groaning. I wouldn't mind this kind of commentary about gymnastics though.

Posted on: Unique Professions (Part One)
August 14, 2012 at 5:14 AM

Sounds like it's time for a conversation on markedness. I wonder if the Chinese even have a word for the concept.

Posted on: A Qing Wen to Our Listeners
August 13, 2012 at 7:33 AM

I thought there was already a QW on this. Maybe there is and I missed it. But it would be helpful to have a QW on doing something while doing something else using zhōng 中 Like for example, in the sentence, "While the elevator is moving, don't jump up and down, or put objects inbetween the doors to pry them open".

Posted on: A Qing Wen to Our Listeners
August 13, 2012 at 7:33 AM

I thought there was already a QW on this.  Maybe there is and I missed it.  But it would be helpful to have a QW on doing something while doing something else using zhōng 中    Like for example, in the sentence, "While the elevator is moving, don't jump up and down, or put objects inbetween the doors to pry them open".

Posted on: The London Olympics
August 13, 2012 at 5:31 AM

for those of us that are data driven, GB does indeed seem to have made significant improvement in medal count over the past 5 Olympics. From a relatively modest 1 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze medals in Atlanta in 1996, to something more befitting the Empire, with 29 gold, 17 silver and 19 bronze medals in London.

Thank God we still have basketball......

http://www.nbcolympics.com/medals/medal-comparison.html

Posted on: The London Olympics
August 9, 2012 at 4:55 AM

I played the basketball doodle. That was fun. The synchronized swimming doodle seems to know better than to show up on my laptop. I haven't seen it.

Posted on: The London Olympics
August 8, 2012 at 8:18 AM

yes, I acquiesce. Synchronized swimming is far, far too silly to be a sport. I didn't even know what to do that. I should probably go to the urban dictionary to find terminology suitable to describe synchronized swimming.

Posted on: A Creepy Guy
August 8, 2012 at 7:13 AM

Fair enough. valid points baba. I did note the lessons of the year thread, but after all these many years, I guess I was starting to think that there are many hot-button topics that generate discussion. So I was thinking that maybe "most commented" is a simple and easy metric, but not the best. Now how do you objectively measure "best"? Yes, not easy and clear.

Don't mind me. For some reason, I seem to be in a sullen-teen mood.....