User Comments - redking

Posted on: Chinese Names

My surname, Pine, translates pretty easily to 潘 which is also a common Chinese surname. But my problem is with the given name. The \"official\" translation of Roy is 罗一 (luoyi), which just means \"collect/gather\".

I wanted a name which would be more meaningful and personalized, but still be a rough match phonetically. So I hit on the idea of using 罗利 (luoli), which is only a one character change. The literal reading of the characters makes a little more sense, but the main thing is that 罗利 is the official translation for \"Raleigh\" (city in North Carolina), which is where I live. In that sense, it becomes like an Arabic nisbat (geographic name) which is a nice touch.

My question is, does 潘罗利 seem like an acceptable name? When I was in China and trying to pick a name, I kept hearing \"No no, people will think you are a girl\" for all my choices (because of the predominance of li / yi characters, I'm guessing?)

Posted on: Baijiu or Beer

The thing I've never understood is how Chinese seem to be able to hold their liquor well where baijiu or even putaojiu is concerned (while laowai are crawling for the door), but two or three beers and they're giggly as schoolgirls. Me and some friends more or less cleaned out the beer supply of a bar in Hangzhou one hot July evening and they looked at us like we were gods.