User Comments - starbuck

Posted on: Mild Swearing

One summer I hired and off-duty cop to help me with such "non-textbook" language. Another summer I found an off-duty taxi driver to be my part-time "vernacular" coach.

My vocabulary expanded, but it remained difficult to know just when it was culturally appropriate to "unleash the beast." I often misjudged when to say what. Issues of "degree" remained perplexing.

Sometimes I even wished that intermediate kung fu had been a required prerequisite to learning these colorful words and phrases.

Posted on: Outrageous Power Bill

chiongzibide asked: Is there a special name for meter readers (electricity/ gas/ or water?)

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One knocked on my door yesterday evening and announced himself as 抄水电的 (chāo shuǐdiàn de.)

I let him in and he read the water and electric meters and had me check his figures to see that they were correct.

I don't know if that's an official name or just what they call themselves here in Kunming.

Posted on: The Surname Code

And if all else fails, of course you scribble the character in question on the palm of one open hand with the index finger of your other hand.