User Comments - xtna
xtna
Posted on: Cosmetic Surgery and Mooncakes
September 13, 2008, 01:21 PMArtkho wrote, "David didn't mention that it was used to commemorate a rebellion against the Yuan Dynasty (the Hans don't like the Mongols)."
Yeah, thanks for bringing this up! I remember hearing this too, when I was a kid. When it wasn't mentioned in the podcast, I figured I got that story confused with the origin of some other celebration. Glad to know I didn't! :)
Posted on: Afraid of Dogs
September 13, 2008, 05:15 AMWow, something funky happened with the formatting of my question here. I don't have any software for typing in chinese, so I suppose I should just stick to pinyin from now on. =o.O=
Here's what my question SHOULD have been:
"Thinking about it now, though (my mom is from Taiwan), I've never heard non-mainland Chinese people drop the 'er' sound from 'yi4 hui3 er2,' as in 'deng3 yi4 hui3er2," preferring to use instead 'deng3 yi2xia4.' If they use it at all, it seems that they always keep the 'er' specifically in the 'yi4 hui3er2' and use it as is.
"Amber or anyone else notice this? Am I off? Anyone have any ideas as to why this is, that the 'er' sound is consistently kept in this instance?"
Thanks for any feedback, and sorry about the formatting issue above. Bleh.
Posted on: Cosmetic Surgery and Mooncakes
September 13, 2008, 04:35 AMWildyaks,
Personally, I love receiving them--generally the packaging is quite pretty, and I always find it thoughtful of the giver to bring them...it's just eating them that's a wholly different matter. :D
I'm actually having dinner with a coworker of mine--a Frenchman who kindly reminded me about the mid-Autumn Festival--so I'm going to celebrate it with him and his family. And guess what I'm bringing? You got it: mooncakes! I'll nibble one politely and leave the eating of the rest of them to him and his family. :)
Posted on: Cosmetic Surgery and Mooncakes
September 13, 2008, 04:06 AMAs always, Amber, great podcast. Thanks!
My mother, being very vain and very fortunate to have a "高高挺挺" (those are the right characters for the "gaogao tingting" used in the interview, right?) Western-looking nose, used to offer me double eyelid surgery as incentive to do well at things...needless to say, it never motivated me much (and my eyelids are still intact). She was always very insistent that if the surgery were to take place, we'd leave NYC to go to China or Taiwan to get it done because they have more experience with that kind of surgery. This offer was made to me maybe 15 years ago, so I'm surprised to hear that it's only gotten popular in the last five years. Maybe it was Taiwan that was more conscious of their double eyeliddedness.
Mooncakes: I never found it that yummy (I like the yolk one most, and I don't even like it that much). I remember my family bringing boxes and boxes of mooncake to everyone, and getting boxes and boxes of mooncakes from those same people in return. Afterward, we'd stare rather morosely at our stash of mooncakes, because we knew we'd be eating them for ages before we ran out. :D Haagen-Dazs mooncake! FANCY!
Posted on: Afraid of Dogs
September 12, 2008, 08:51 PMThough my father was originally from Beijing, he didn't speak with much of an accent. But watching some Chinese programming on TV in NYC, I grew to be familiar with this "儿" (er) sound, where it's tacked on to add a little flava ;) and is usually dropped by folks not from the northern parts of China.
Thinking about it now, though (my mom is from Taiwan), I've never heard non-mainland Chinese people drop the "儿" from "一会儿," as in "等一会儿," preferring instead to use "等一下." If they use "一会儿," they tend to keep it as is, with the 儿.
Amber or anyone else notice this? Am I off? Anyone have any ideas as to why this is, that the 儿 would be kept in this instance?
Posted on: Considering a Credit Card
September 12, 2008, 08:16 PMVery nice lesson, thanks!
"欠一屁股债" was a constant warning from my mother while I was growing up. It was a bit startling to hear a phrase I heard so often as a child suddenly coming to me from my earphones! It was as though my mother stuck her head over my shoulder for a moment (in the form of ChinesePod) reminding me of the dangers of debt! :D Seriously, as soon as I heard it, I almost bolted out of my seat on the bus because of the uncannily accurate resemblance. :D
Posted on: Prescription Drugs and Overseas Chinese
September 10, 2008, 05:28 PMWow, sorry I missed the discussion here. GREAT topic of conversation, Amber and Jenny.
I only got to listen to this podcast this morning, so I'm getting to this thread a bit late. I'm an ABC born, raised, and living in New York City, and even though it's got a pretty sizeable Chinese population, identity is still a difficult thing to grapple with. Contrary to what was said in the show, I don't often feel all that warmly embraced by either group--I'm not "chinese enough" to non-ABC chinese, and I'm different enough to be something other than -just- "American." If you look around NYC, most Chinese young adults will simply label themselves "Asian" or "Asian American" along with most other Koreans, Japanese, Indian, Thai, etc. folks...the specific ethnicities are secondary (or even tertiary)...maybe as a subtle response to the pressures their more traditional friends and relatives place on them to be more traditional, and as subtle acknowledgement to each other about the similiarities of their experiences.
What I find more sad is that small percentage of people who don't truly belong to either category--I know of a few people who have either forgotten their Chinese or never learned it and have forgotten a lot about the culture, but meanwhile speak English with a noticeable accent, thus bringing other people to consider them foreign or fresh off the boat as soon as they open their mouths.
And about being able to tell ABCs, CBCs, etc. from native Chinese in China: yeah, I could see that. ;) I often get mistaken for being Japanese but I think it's more because I spike my hair and it looks kind of like an anime character's hair would look. Also, I'm also just built differently: I'm 5'9", taller than most chinese women, and bigger, too (not fat, just..."sturdy," I guess). My mother also used to tell me in a rather disapproving manner that I'm "ren2 gao1 ma3 da4 (tall person as big as a horse?)." That's also pretty rough for a kid (a female kid!) in a pretty conformist culture.
NYC being a huge tourist town, I can almost always tell the American tourists from the European tourists from the NYC natives--the European tourists are typically dressed better, while the natives typically seem dressed for trendy funerals. :D
Posted on: Afraid of Dogs
September 05, 2008, 02:41 AMVery informative! Thanks, Changye! I just told my Atlas that he's a "Fist Lion Dog," and he seemed okay with it, so long as I kept petting him. :D
"大狗狗" seems like an oxymoron, with 狗狗 acting as a diminutive or cute-ifier. Is it common? I've actually never heard that, but then again, I never knew people with dogs when I was a child. :)
Posted on: At the Hair Salon
September 05, 2008, 02:14 AMVery, very cool. I enjoyed that a lot. I was also going to ask about getting your hair washed in the chair. Thanks for the answer and the willingness to be a video lesson guinea pig, Amber! And great job, Marco and David! :D
Posted on: Street Food Buffet
September 19, 2008, 06:47 PMDefinitely another FANTASTIC lesson. I'm accustomed to seeing street food, but xiaolongbao?! You guys are SO lucky! :D
Amber wrote, "generally in the range of 3 to 6 kuai each."
I have a (tangentially related) question. :) When did kuai4 start coming into use? Actual Chinese currency is Ren2min2bi4, but the unit is a yuan2. Growing up in the US, knowing that the units of Chinese money are "yuan"s, I always just thought that "kuai4" referred to American dollars. But the Chinese term for American currency is Mei2Yuan2? And the Chinese term for Euro is Ou1Bi4? When did the yuan/kaui switch come about? Is there an existing lesson someone can recommend that explains the nuances of these kaui/yuan/bi terms?
Thanks, all. :)