Wednesday, June 13, 2007
China: Glossary
So I haven’t blogged for a week… if you’re expecting a huge, detailed blog post about the entire 14-day trip now, you’re gonna be disappointed. I haven’t been working on that at all. But I probably should… not just for blogging, but also for journaling purposes, and just for having a webpage that keeps track of my vacations (like I have for Asia and Cancun). Also, I’ll have to sort out pictures I want to use for the webpage, for any “live” presentations that I do, and for facebook.
I hope you enjoyed the “Unrecycling” picture, I know I did. Eventually I’ll post more Engrish signs as I detail the rest of my trip, but first, as with most events, we’ve come up with a few frequently used ‘terms’ on our China trip that you should also be aware of.
-=-=-=-=-=-=
Terra-Cotta Warriors: This is probably the most important term that we’ve been using, and it deals directly with the 2nd picture that I recently posted – here it is again:
In Xian, we went to see how they make Terra Cotta Warriors, and the museum of Terra Cotta Warriors. (Usually around now, I would start using TCW for Terra Cotta Warriors, but actually typing/saying the whole thing makes it better). Terra Cotta Warriors are just the warriors back at that time, and back then people made full-sized statues of the Terra Cotta Warriors. You’ll see when I blog about it.
Anyway, while we were leaving the museum, this boy, or street dealer, comes up to Raymond and offers a pretty good sized Terra Cotta Warrior for 30 yuan (about $5 cdn). Ray just shrugs him off, and the guy is like, “okay, 20 yuan!” Ray says no, and then he’s like “15 yuan!” and “okay, 10 yuan!” And Ray keeps saying no. Eventually, he says, “okay, okay, 3 yuan!” And Ray says no, and then he leaves and we get onto our bus.
Then we realized… 3 yuan? Man, we should’ve gotten a Terra Cotta Warrior! Suuure, you have to wonder about the quality of the Terra Cotta Warrior, if they’re making profit off of 3 yuan (50 cents Canadian)…. But it sure is a good deal for 3 yuan! So, from then on, the term Terra Cotta Warrior was born. To figure out if something was worth buying, we’d put it in terms of Terra Cotta Warriors. “Let’s see… I can buy this shirt for 100 yuan… or I can buy 33 Terra Cotta Warriors with it! Hmm…”
There were other valuable things on the trip that we could compare with, such as Geoff spending 96 yuan on 2 glasses of water in one dinner ($16 cdn) (more about that later), but none were as comparable as the Terra Cotta Warrior.
Tourist: “It’s okay, I’m a tourist!” or “Are you going to tourist her?” or “Is it time to be a tourist, Bao?” Basically, a tourist has the ability to take pictures of anything. Thus, a tourist can take pictures of pretty girls… that is, if you take a picture of a pretty girl and the girl sees you, then… you’re in trouble – unless, you’re a tourist. You’re not taking a picture of the pretty girl – you’re taking pictures of the scenery behind her, like a temple, or lights in the sky, or the weird angles that the building structure makes.
So next time you take a secret picture of a girl and she gets angry, just say “It’s okay! I’m a tourist!”
Here’s a picture that Geoff took in HK. He says he didn’t mean to “Tourist”… suure sure, Geoff :P – As you can see, there’s a monument in the picture, and it just so happens that there are 3 nice girls in the picture too. Coincidentally, they were walking there too.
Also, here’s another example of a touristy shot. Apparently we have these vibrating water bowls in the science centre too, but I wanted a picture of it anyway. Plus, the picture came with a bonus *shifty eyes*…
Also, I think I should add another “touristy thing”, I dunno what I should call it now… let’s call it a Trick Tourist or Smart Tourist, which positions the picture in such a way so that it’s more touristy. For example, I might get Duy to stand in a certain place so I can take a picture of him, and in doing so I also take a picture of a pretty girl – but it’s okay, I’m a tourist, taking pictures of my buddy. Yes. Like in this example (note you can use Trick Tourist even when you’re not a tourist, because everyone likes taking pictures of their buddy, everywhere, anytime).
Panda-Like: When we saw the Pandas in the Beijing Zoo, they were panda-like; it’d be cool if they moved around and were active, but no – most of the time, they just lied there, or sat there, doing nothing. Thus, if you’re not moving around, being lazy, or whatever, you’re being Panda-like.
Used to be Friends (*shakes fist*): This one is not used too often, and I think only I use it. One time, Ray was explaining to our tour guide that we used to go to highschool together, but he accidentally said “We used to be friends.” So then I looked at him and said “We used to be friends”, shaking my fist. Anyway, sometimes I see Geoff and Ray arguing, so I would point at them and tell Duy, “they used to be friends.”
Cache (sp?) : This is Geoff’s term, or a real French term, which is used when something is cool… like, skydiving is Cache, and maybe climbing the Great Wall is Cache. We didn’t really use this term too much on the trip though. I think another synonym for Cache is “blogworthy”.
There are some other terms, like “Bet all and lost”, but they’re not really used that much, or aren’t China related.
Anyway, I’ll probably start working on the actual China stuff soon. Actually, probably not… Friday I’m going with Hawk and Jia and Duy and Bao to chill in Hamilton for a day, or two, or… so… and then maybe I’ll start going through my trip. Heh.
Labels: china, glossary, terra cotta warrrior, tourist
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So I haven’t blogged for a week… if you’re expecting a huge, detailed blog post about the entire 14-day trip now, you’re gonna be disappointed. I haven’t been working on that at all. But I probably should… not just for blogging, but also for journaling purposes, and just for having a webpage that keeps track of my vacations (like I have for Asia and Cancun). Also, I’ll have to sort out pictures I want to use for the webpage, for any “live” presentations that I do, and for facebook. I hope you enjoyed the “Unrecycling” picture, I know I did. Eventually I’ll post more Engrish signs as I detail the rest of my trip, but first, as with most events, we’ve come up with a few frequently used ‘terms’ on our China trip that you should also be aware of. -=-=-=-=-=-= Terra-Cotta Warriors: This is probably the most important term that we’ve been using, and it deals directly with the 2nd picture that I recently posted – here it is again: In Xian, we went to see how they make Terra Cotta Warriors, and the museum of Terra Cotta Warriors. (Usually around now, I would start using TCW for Terra Cotta Warriors, but actually typing/saying the whole thing makes it better). Terra Cotta Warriors are just the warriors back at that time, and back then people made full-sized statues of the Terra Cotta Warriors. You’ll see when I blog about it. Anyway, while we were leaving the museum, this boy, or street dealer, comes up to Raymond and offers a pretty good sized Terra Cotta Warrior for 30 yuan (about $5 cdn). Ray just shrugs him off, and the guy is like, “okay, 20 yuan!” Ray says no, and then he’s like “15 yuan!” and “okay, 10 yuan!” And Ray keeps saying no. Eventually, he says, “okay, okay, 3 yuan!” And Ray says no, and then he leaves and we get onto our bus. Then we realized… 3 yuan? Man, we should’ve gotten a Terra Cotta Warrior! Suuure, you have to wonder about the quality of the Terra Cotta Warrior, if they’re making profit off of 3 yuan (50 cents Canadian)…. But it sure is a good deal for 3 yuan! So, from then on, the term Terra Cotta Warrior was born. To figure out if something was worth buying, we’d put it in terms of Terra Cotta Warriors. “Let’s see… I can buy this shirt for 100 yuan… or I can buy 33 Terra Cotta Warriors with it! Hmm…” There were other valuable things on the trip that we could compare with, such as Geoff spending 96 yuan on 2 glasses of water in one dinner ($16 cdn) (more about that later), but none were as comparable as the Terra Cotta Warrior. Tourist: “It’s okay, I’m a tourist!” or “Are you going to tourist her?” or “Is it time to be a tourist, Bao?” Basically, a tourist has the ability to take pictures of anything. Thus, a tourist can take pictures of pretty girls… that is, if you take a picture of a pretty girl and the girl sees you, then… you’re in trouble – unless, you’re a tourist. You’re not taking a picture of the pretty girl – you’re taking pictures of the scenery behind her, like a temple, or lights in the sky, or the weird angles that the building structure makes. So next time you take a secret picture of a girl and she gets angry, just say “It’s okay! I’m a tourist!” Here’s a picture that Geoff took in HK. He says he didn’t mean to “Tourist”… suure sure, Geoff :P – As you can see, there’s a monument in the picture, and it just so happens that there are 3 nice girls in the picture too. Coincidentally, they were walking there too. Also, here’s another example of a touristy shot. Apparently we have these vibrating water bowls in the science centre too, but I wanted a picture of it anyway. Plus, the picture came with a bonus *shifty eyes*… Also, I think I should add another “touristy thing”, I dunno what I should call it now… let’s call it a Trick Tourist or Smart Tourist, which positions the picture in such a way so that it’s more touristy. For example, I might get Duy to stand in a certain place so I can take a picture of him, and in doing so I also take a picture of a pretty girl – but it’s okay, I’m a tourist, taking pictures of my buddy. Yes. Like in this example (note you can use Trick Tourist even when you’re not a tourist, because everyone likes taking pictures of their buddy, everywhere, anytime). Panda-Like: When we saw the Pandas in the Beijing Zoo, they were panda-like; it’d be cool if they moved around and were active, but no – most of the time, they just lied there, or sat there, doing nothing. Thus, if you’re not moving around, being lazy, or whatever, you’re being Panda-like. Used to be Friends (*shakes fist*): This one is not used too often, and I think only I use it. One time, Ray was explaining to our tour guide that we used to go to highschool together, but he accidentally said “We used to be friends.” So then I looked at him and said “We used to be friends”, shaking my fist. Anyway, sometimes I see Geoff and Ray arguing, so I would point at them and tell Duy, “they used to be friends.” Cache (sp?) : This is Geoff’s term, or a real French term, which is used when something is cool… like, skydiving is Cache, and maybe climbing the Great Wall is Cache. We didn’t really use this term too much on the trip though. I think another synonym for Cache is “blogworthy”. There are some other terms, like “Bet all and lost”, but they’re not really used that much, or aren’t China related. Anyway, I’ll probably start working on the actual China stuff soon. Actually, probably not… Friday I’m going with Hawk and Jia and Duy and Bao to chill in Hamilton for a day, or two, or… so… and then maybe I’ll start going through my trip. Heh. |
Labels: china, glossary, terra cotta warrrior, tourist