A Chinese book explains to new parents some of the things they shouldn’t say to their children. The content included is both surprising and revealing. Topping the list: “We found you in a trash heap,” “With grades like this, you’re going to be sweeping streets someday,” and “How can you be so stupid!”
27
Jun
2006
2006
The Chaos Run
On the cusp of 2000, I made my first trip to New York City with my friend Alex. We wanted to be in the most exciting place when the ball dropped in Times Square. Some people gave us dire warnings of terrorist threats or Y2K mayhem, but we weren’t worried about that. There was something alluring about the year 2000, and we were two twenty-one-year-olds that would not be stuck in Tampa for it.
For part of our adventure in …
25
Jun
2006
2006
Jacob's Creek
I regularly ride the subway to get to ChinesePod headquarters, and on each ride I am subjected to the advertising played on those flat LCD monitors. One of the ads I see a lot is for Jacob’s Creek, an Australian wine. I noted that the Chinese name is 杰卡斯.
杰卡斯 is obviously a partial transliteration. 杰 is chosen for its sound and favorable meaning of “outstanding,” and 卡 and 斯, both chosen for their sounds, are commonly used in …
23
Jun
2006
2006
Blog Awards and Danwei
I have been asked to help spread word about some Chinese blog awards. I have to admit I don’t pay much attention to these myself, but I do think they’re a good thing. And in one case, you can actually win real money! (Well, real monopoly money, anyway.)
Best China Blogs is the China blog awards event giving away close to 10,000 RMB (over US$1000!). “The Admiral” of China Moon is organizing it. (Some of you might know him …
22
Jun
2006
2006
Mother-Daughter Chitchat
The other day in the subway I couldn’t help but overhear this mother-daughter “dialogue” as I was going up the stairs.
Mother: 男人要胖。女人要瘦。 (Men need to be fat. Women need to be thin.)
Daughter: …
Mother: 你胖得已经像男人了。 (You’re so fat you’re already looking like a man.)
Daughter: …
I couldn’t help taking a look at the daughter. She wasn’t skinny, but she wasn’t either obese or manly. She was probably not much above average weight. She also didn’t seem very …
20
Jun
2006
2006
Freakonomics in Chinese
Last night while on an evening stroll around Zhongshan Park I was surprised to discover that the pirated book man (he pushes his goods around in a big cart) had a copy of the Chinese version of Freakonomics.
The book was good quality, except for the occasional misalligned printing which plagues pirated books. The cover certainly looks fine, although I was disappointed to see the trademark apple/orange image (see the book’s own website if you’re unfamiliar with the …
19
Jun
2006
2006
End of Semester Vacuum
It’s the end of the semester. You might expect me to be busy with schoolwork, but I’m really not especially busy because all three of my graduate-level courses are based on essays which don’t need to be turned in until the beginning of next semester. So I have all summer to work on those. The one undergrad class I’m taking to make up credit, Modern Chinese (现代汉语), does have an exam. So that’s probably the only traditional exam …
17
Jun
2006
2006
Shanghai Carrefour Showcase
I found this 8-page Carrefour ad in my mailbox the other day, and I thought I’d scan it and share it. For those of you not in the know, Carrefour is a French supermarket chain that is super popular here in the PRC. It just recently opened at its new Zhongshan Park location in Shanghai. Anyway, I would think that this these pages might be very interesting for anyone interested in China, Chinese, or Shanghai.
…
16
Jun
2006
2006
Two Minor Disappointments
The pizza I most often eat in Shanghai is Hello Pizza‘s. It’s not the best, but at only 10 rmb for a 9″ pepperoni or Hawaiian pizza, it can’t be beat. Thrifty pizza scarfer that I am, I’ve been a big fan of Hello Pizza ever since I moved to Shanghai.
a $15 Hello Pizza feast
So the other night I ordered pizza for dinner. Imagine my horror, then, at being told that the pepperoni pizzas are now …
14
Jun
2006
2006
Unexpectedly Pregnant
The other day in one of my classes the professor was talking about innocent phrases having unintended meanings for non-native speakers of Chinese. His example was 有了, which on the surface seems to just mean “to have something now that one didn’t have before” (to put it verbosely) but in everyday usage actually means “to be [newly] pregnant.”
It’s a fairly common phrase, so it’s easy for the unwary learner to either inadvertently declare pregnancy or to be confused …
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