User Comments - yaming8808

Posted on: Describing Athletes

Your recent riot there in Vancouver shows how people can get when they

get 'jacked' up if you'll pardon me using another use of the many uses of the word 'jack'. You see we're not so different from the Chinese as we may

think. Our words can have so many uses it must drive foreigners as crazy trying to learn English as we are trying to learn Chinese. Again it shows

how much context can be king in language use.

Posted on: Describing Athletes

A very good 2 cents, feng4huang2! Showing us another use of the word

'jacked' in Canada just shows what I was getting at in my remarks about 5

comments above.

Posted on: Describing Athletes

She probably meant 'logged off' the internet. In Canada logging is quite an

industry and I wouldn't be surprised if all sorts of slang has developed around it including using such common words like 'jack' for other purposes

than one would normally expect. Interesting isn't it how studying another

language leads to all sorts of new ramifications in your own?

Posted on: Describing Athletes

Very good, sinolover, this all shows how open to different interpretations

words can get and sometimes end up meaning the direct opposite of the

original intended meaning.

Posted on: Describing Athletes

So you know what all Californians say? You must get around. Jacked is

a past participle form just like buffed. If we've buffed up something like a piece of furniture to bring out its grainyness, why can't a muscled body be buffed up to bring out its finer points as well?

Posted on: Man or Woman?

Replying to John, how about "Speak slower, I hear it all but I'm confused"?

Posted on: Man or Woman?

Sorry, I was in too much of a hurry.  The second to last expansion should be "I hear all confusion."

Posted on: Man or Woman?

In three of the last four expansions, I think "So are you actually going or not?", "Speak slower, I'm all confused" and "What are you doing, anyway? I see all confusion." would have been more precise translations.  The first brings out 'dàodǐ', the second 'dōu', and the third 'dōu" and 'kàn'.

Posted on: I don't smoke

I first learned 'zhī' is used as a measure word for 'xiāngyān', but not 'yān',

for which I learned one requires 'gēn' as a measure word. But now you tell

us that 'zhī' is all right with just 'yān'. I'm not quibbling and accept this

widening of use for 'zhī' as a measure word. In fact, 'zhī' already seemed to have a broader use as a measure word than 'gēn'. 'Zhī' is for stick-like things, such as 'bǐ', 'huā', 'kuàizi', làzhú, 'qiāng', and, of course, 'xiāngyān' and 'yān', but also all sorts of animals, teams, army units, etc., while 'gēn'

seems a little more limited to just long, slender objects, such as 'gānzhè',

'huángguā', 'tóufa', 'xiāngjiāo', and 'yān'. Btw, would 'gēn' also be the measure word for 'xiāngcháng', another long, slender food like 'gānzhè',

'huángguā' and 'xiāngjiāo'? Interestingly, the 'xiāng shūfá' in 'xiāngcháng', 'xiāngjiāo', and 'xiāngyān' is the same 'xiāng shūfá' found in 'xiāngshuǐ'. It seems such common use of an expression must indicate shared intent of meaning at some points in history, though today such

things may go unnoticed in the casual use of these words for objects with

such different traits as bananas, cigarettes, perfume, and sausages.

Posted on: Broken Pipe

Hái yǒu 'expansion exercise' shí yī hàomǎ yào xiū le. Yīnggāi shì "When does he get off work?" Zuìhòu kěyǐ mǒu rén gàosù wǒ 'bǎo ān' de yīngwén de fānyì? Wǒ bù néng zhǎodào le.