User Comments - rods

Posted on: A Convenient Misunderstanding

Convenience is a British term meaning a public toilet.

Posted on: Washing Clothes on the Road

Herein, of course, lies the genius in such fashions as the "Mao suit", and the "Canadian tuxedo" which can be worn for days without anyone being the wiser.

"Hey, Gord! You've been wearing that same thing all week, eh?"

"No, ya hoser, I got aboot a dozen of these."

Posted on: Rich and Poor

Great clip. While my apartment didn't come with a bar, or a 1978 model Goldie, I did have a couple closets ... one up-ing RJ's pad. I had a sound system that would have rivalled Dudley's too. The smoke detector was installed so close to the kitchen stove that whenever I opened the oven, the heat from it would set off the smoke detector. That's sort of like having disco music piped in.

Posted on: Rich and Poor

To the thread:

Another term you might hear is "Bachelor apartments", these are the same things as the "Efficiency apartments" RJ mentioned and the "studio flats" chinesecatherine described. (Studio Flat has a nicer ring to it, I think.)

A condominium (unit) owner, unlike an apartment renter, pays a monthly maintenance fee which goes to pay for the building's upkeep. Also, condos generally have some sort of tenant's association which allows the condo owners to have a say in how their building is run.

I have heard people say they're "buying/selling an apartment" but I think if they can buy or sell it, it would more frequently be referred to as a condominium.

Posted on: Hamsters, Snakes, and Owls

Too late. The title is yours (tips hat).

Posted on: Hamsters, Snakes, and Owls

Heh heh, I didn't give you much to go on. But, I get a little excited whenever anyone mentions the Simpsons, and your quote happens to be another favorite of mine.

Also, Thank You richwarm2 for filling in the details. If you can tell me what a "quijibo" is, I'll surrender my self-appointed "King of all Simpsons' Quotes" title to you. ;)

Posted on: Hamsters, Snakes, and Owls

Ran into the same problem in German class. Der Affe can be a monkey or an ape (also a quijibo, maybe). Kafka didn't seem to care as far as tails were concerned.

Posted on: Hamsters, Snakes, and Owls

"It must be said that anyone who can quote Homer Simpson indeed qualifies to be called cultured themselves."

It's pronounced "learned".

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

Hey Baba, 'tis I indeed. Just happened to be poking around one day and I discovered that "rods" was free. So I thought, hey!, that's shorter than "rodsrandomnumber", and, since I hadn't been able to figure out a way to swap the "randomnumber" part for a string of continuously changing actual random numbers, I decided to switch. This way I get to impersonate the "inanimate carbon rod" as depicted on the cover of Time magazine.

Trouble is, I seem to have taken the "inanimate" part a bit too far as I've become rather lax these past few months with my Chinese study program.

D'Oh!

Posted on: Fast Cars and Shallow Women

The puppy is zhen lihai, as all doggies are ...

I know this thread has run its course and I don't want to reignite any flames, but all this reminded me of an old Archie comic strip which was the antithesis of this lesson. Briefly: Reggie had a nice new sports car, but Veronica would always ditch Reggie, preferring to ride in Archie's old jalopy. There was a panel depicting Archie's old heap bouncing down the road with an assortment obnoxious noises emanating from it (Rattle Put Roar Bang and so on). Reggie couldn't understand this. The explanation/punchline was that Veronica preferred Archie's car to Reggie's precisely because of all the racket Archie's car made. She got more attention when she rode in Archie's car.

Obviously, that strip could be considered sexist. Or, one could argue that it makes a fair point, some (many? all?) women like to be noticed. Just look at women's fashions--but are women's fashions designed for women or men? Don't men like attention too? Just who exactly is buying all those rolling phalli mentioned in the dialog?

I'm going to stop before I get into a fight with myself ... But I wonder if there are any Chinese Britta Perrys out there? I'd like to meet one in a lesson.