Comments on: Don’t be so polite

By: Su@work

Su@work — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:15:19 +0000

Eric - remember that time you said you’d get a tattoo of “clown penis” if I got the Chinese characters for it. I’m going to hold you to it if I can find a polite way to ask my mom to write that down. “Please write it. It’s for Eric.”

Tommy - I’m trying to think of a Cantonese/Mandarin word that translates into “please” and I’m coming up with nothing.
Depends. There is definitely a greeting to use if you are just going up to someone asking directions that implies politeness (Cantonese). I know how to say please in Cantonese. You don’t start off a sentence with it, you end with it so it’s a mix of please/thank you. Let me politely ask you something next time.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:40:30 +0000

for fat I used “too big to fail” the other day, but I think I was the only one laughing

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:17:51 +0000

Best way to say fat IMO

By: Harms

Harms — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:31:06 +0000

In that case, Eric, may I recommend this language make frequent use of the term “corpulent”.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:52:05 +0000

My goal is to form a sub-language, so I can talk shit about people to their face without them knowing.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:47:46 +0000

lol i like how eric is promoting his new phrase “clown shoes” in this language thread.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=clown+shoes

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:20:52 +0000

lolol

The word I learned as “please” in Mandarin was qing3. But of course like my example above, I don’t really know how to use it. It might be for politeness, or maybe more to indicate some kind of invitation (ie please have some soup).

There’s another one when asking for things, “ma2fan ni3,” which is something like sorry to trouble you, please give me xyz. No idea how often thats used. I wonder if theres an equivalent to BREAK YOSELF FOOL! gimme xyz!

I once heard that Icelandic is the hardest language for English speakers to learn. Japanese has so many awesome cognates, that might count for something.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:43:38 +0000

Back in highschool, I remember reading something that claimed the hardest languages to learn are English and Japanese; Japanese because the written language is clown shoes, and English because the syntax makes absolutely no cents.

By: Tommy

Tommy — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:59:26 +0000

I’m trying to think of a Cantonese/Mandarin word that translates into “please” and I’m coming up with nothing.

If anyone ever thought that Chinese people were rude, I think it’s because there’s no real “polite” way to say things. And if anyone ever thought it sounds like they’re yelling, they are and they’re talking shit about you.