In the comments of a recent post, the Mandarin phrase “mama huhu 馬馬虎虎” came up. Used by first-year Chinese teachers when telling students how to say “so-so”, it is arguably not used much among actual native speakers.

In my opinion, that’s for good reason. It sounds absurd. It’s not some cool chengyu 成語 idiom with a neat story. It’s not bad ass in any way.

And, it turns out, it’s only just barely Chinese. It’s actually from Manchu lahū meaning unskilled, particularly in terms of hunting. Norman gives the following definition:

1. not adept, unskilled (especially at hunting and dealing with livestock) 2. scoundrel, hoodlum

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Through a family connection* I’m looking for an experienced tutor to teach English to a physician in Beijing near the Xizhimen subway stop. Probably 1-2 hours per week . If you’re interested, please contact me directly (hence closed comments): syz <at> sinoglot <dot> com.

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*I know, I know, this is the second ad in as many weeks. What can I say? In China you do things for people. Trust me, I’m not getting a cut of the salary.

A few weeks ago when I asked about gěrpì, it took Sinoglot readers all of a few minutes to come up with the dictionary entry that had eluded me. From the comments in that entry I’ll first quote Jeroen’s response:

嗝儿屁[-兒-] gěrpì v.o. 〈slang〉 die; be dead

and then Julen’s comment:

etymology: from ass belching, something people do when they die.

Brendan also noted the phrase is in current (ironic) usage not just among kids.

Now the question is: what would be a better translation of that phrase that inspired the title of the original post: “Grandma’s going to murder me if she finds out”? Continue…

My university had a language centre as all modern universities do. In addition to the required X hours spent doing coursework there, you could borrow DVDs in various languages. Most were outdated or over-watched VHSs converted into DVDs, so the quality wasn’t the best, but then again we were listening to Umm Kuthum at the time anyway so lo-fi was the way to go. The only real problem was the student workers. I remember quite clearly going in one day and asking to borrow an episode of افتح يا سمسم, call number AS-03 or something like that. “AS-03?” she asked, critically, while shooting a glance to her friends standing nearby. “You want to watch Sesame Street?” Chuckles all around.

Yeah, you jerk, I do. Sorry I don’t want to pretend to understand every nuance in the dialogue of La Haine just to look cool in front of the other language students. Give me my damn muppets and leave me alone.

I’m still working through some stuff from when I was younger.

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Those of you in the NYC area might want to check out a new play by David Henry Hwang called ‘Chinglish’. Hwang, an American playwright from Los Angeles, should be familiar to you through his 1988 play ‘M. Butterfly’, later made into a film also written by Hwang.

Here’s the first paragraph of a New York Times article on ‘Chinglish’.

Even though much of the dialogue is in Mandarin, non-Chinese speakers should have no difficulty interpreting “Chinglish,” the sporadically funny new play by David Henry Hwang, which opened on Thursday night at the Longacre Theater. That’s not just because of the helpful supertitles — largely translations of mistranslations, in which English is merrily mutilated, and the principal source of this production’s mirth. Mr. Hwang’s comedy, about a bewildered American businessman hoping to make his fortune in capitalist China, is laid out with the frame-by-frame exactness of a comic strip.

Not being in New York, I won’t be going. But I’d be interested to hear from anyone who does see / has seen it. I myself would love to, being otherwise a fan of his.

It’s showing at the Longacre Theater, 220 West 48th Street, Manhattan. Call (212) 239-6200 for tickets.

Through a family connection* I’m looking for an experienced tutor to teach English to a prominent physician in Guangdong. Probably 1-2 hours per week in the Sun Yat-sen University (中山大学) area. If you’re interested, please contact me directly (hence closed comments): syz <at> sinoglot <dot> com.

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*Which is to say, no, we’re not turning Sinoglot into a web-based billboard, at least not until the price is right. Continue…

Warning: potty humor ahead

Just before heading out to school this morning:

PBS*: Wǒ yào qù Wáng Cōng jiā
我要去王cōng家
I want to go to Wang Cong’s house.

Me: Huh?

PBS (chortling): It means “go to the bathroom” — WC! At school we always say this. Continue…

[update: followup post here]

Help! I’ve got a word to research that’s defying the dictionaries installed on my Pleco as well as my 老北京 backup resource.

Scene: my 10-yr-old daughter is doing her homework. She giggles and says:

Yàoshi bù xiě zuòyè wǒ huì gěrpì
要是不写作业我会 gěrpì

Me: gěrpì?! Continue…

I’ve recently been reminded of a couple misconceptions about sign language. Many people believe that there is a singular sign language, and that all who sign to communicate are able to understand each other. It’s similar to the idea that all Sinitic languages are written the same (they’re not) and that if only they would write the characters anyone can understand anyone else with 100% efficiency (they can’t). For sign language, it’s actually much worse.

Another common misconception is that sign language is just a 1:1 replacement of spoken words with hand gestures. This is also not true. In fact the grammar of American Sign Language (ASL) differs significantly from that of spoken American English. Oddly, some people have expressed both of these misconceptions, despite being inherently contradictory.

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Spot the difference:

 

No, I didn’t mess with anything. Yes, I did eventually realize that it was translating from “English”. The problem goes away when you switch from English to Chinese. Explanations?