Tag: language

Expressions I Can Live Without

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wow just wow — see also: wow. Just…wow Use the ellipsis when you want to emphasize just how speechless this week’s fashionable outrage has made you.

I can’t even — often combined with wow just wow for a tag-team of shit.

This — used emphatically when sharing links that reinforce your biases. See also: This. Just…THIS. People have an attraction to the word the word ‘just’ followed by an ellipsis.

It is what it is — Good. I was worried it might be something else.

fur mommy/daddy — ultrasounds for dogs? doggie daycare? It seems fur parents and their money are easily parted. Associated term: fur babies. When someone talks about their fur babies, I wonder how many homeless family members they have.

White dude — used in a derogatory way. If you’d like to be completely unoriginal, try using the -bro suffix.

People/Person of color — such a sterile expression. I don’t mind it when used sparingly, but some people feel the need to use it in a Ralph Wiggum-esque repetition, even when an alternative would fit better. See also: PoC. I’ve yet to see POC. They don’t drop ‘of’ completely and use ‘PC’ because ‘PC’ is too well associated with Politically Correct or Personal Computer.

however comma — Know what I like more than however comma? When people pause, to indicate a comma and then say the word comma.

More to come, I’m sure…

Shoes Turn Into Children

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I can understand more than I could three years ago.

Part of it’s from listening to my wife talk to our daughter. Sometimes it’s just easy to predict what’s someone’s saying and another part might be “attention to detail”, that old military teaching tool.

I still can’t follow every word. Mealtime conversations quickly turn into trainwrecks of sounds, the wreckage rising in direct proportion to the amount of baijiu consumed. Another problem is this place. This dialect.

The local dialect.

It’s easy to hear the difference between the local Hubei-bred Hua and the CCP-approved brand, easier than it was three years ago. The local dialect sounds faster — when people know each other, for whose benefit would they slow down? Also, it’s louder, naturally, here in the home of the “nine-headed birds”. The number of tones are the same.

Here’s a short list of differences between Mandarin and the local dialect. This is spoken in a small Hubei town. Suggestions and corrections are welcome:

hē 喝 “to drink” = huǒ

xué 学 “to study” = xuó

gěi 给 ”to give” = gě

ne = ni (as in: Baba ne? becomes Baba ni?)

bào 抱 “to hug” = pào

chī 吃 “to eat” = qī

zāng 脏 “dirty” = āo zòu

yī diǎn dian 一点点 = yī kār

And everyone’s favorite:

Shoes = Children

:)

English Puzzle

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From this site:

Problem 185. For every sequence of words given below, explain whether it can be used in a grammatically correct English sentence. If it is possible show an example. In the usage there shouldn’t be any extra signs between the given words.

1. could to
2. he have
3. that that
4. the John
5. he should
6. on walked
7. the did

Here’s what I have so far:

2. he have

Subjunctive. Example sentence:

Be sure that he have the right documents before you admit him.

The next one.

3. that that

Really easy.

I know that that’s not true.

A little harder.

4. the John

The [noun] that. Example:

The John that I know doesn’t act that way.

Are you kidding me?

5. he should

This one doesn’t need an example, but… Example:

He should be here tomorrow.

This next one is my favorite.

6. on walked

Interesting. Here’s my sentence:

On walked the traveler, unsure of his destination.

As for “could to” and “the did”, I got nothing. I could see the “the [verb] structure in a sentence like “The student gave his teacher the finished homework”.

Or perhaps, “The done action could not be undone”…but that’s stretching it a bit.

What I’m really wondering is how ESL students would do with this puzzle. And if you can find a way to use “could to” and “the did”, let me know in the comments!