Ray's House of Love Party

I'll let Zach answer that question.

As for coffee table books... I'll buy the sequel, called "f**king"...

Does Zach speak Chinese for real? Or does he only know swear words?

It's 'Wo ai ni' -- that exchange between Ray and me, talking about 'zuo'-ing some 'ai'... well, it's the same ai, meaning love. Zuo, on the other hand, means 'to make' or 'to do.'

And Ray, my friend Janet told me her husband's philosophy about marriage and relationships the other day: I'll give you as much rope in our relationship as you need; it's up to you whether you hang yourself with it or not.

I haven't hung myself just yet.

Let's zuo some ai.

mommie4a said:

I can't remember! That's my 42 year old memory. You'd think I would have jotted it down in one of the three notebooks i carry with me.

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Yes, you should have written it down. My husband can't remember anything either. And I'm older than he is.

rhymegirl said:

Does Zach speak Chinese for real? Or does he only know swear words?

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I've only studied it for two years -- going to Beijing on the 28th to study it for two months.

My major is Japanese, which I've studied for almost 7 years; it helps w/ the Chinese.

Definitely, I can read up to 60% Japanese if they write in Kanji... but if they write the alphabets... I'm all lost (can't speak any Japanese, however).

The only problem is that, in some cases, the Japanese haved tweaked the meaning of the characters.

I'm actually a lot better at reading and understanding Chinese than I am Japanese. I think it has to do w/ the similarity between Chinese and English syntax.

trumancoyote said:

I've only studied it for two years -- going to Beijing on the 28th to study it for two months.

My major is Japanese, which I've studied for almost 7 years; it helps w/ the Chinese.

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Interesting. My daughter loves languages and knows some Japanese.

It's funny though because today I was talking to my son about his Spanish class and he was telling me the swear words he can say in Spanish. That's the stuff they remember.

Because swear words are the most useful And they give you the feeling of doing as the Romans do, so to speak: that you're a part of the culture because you're using something so intimately related to their usual forms of expression.

Japanese swear words are boring, though. They're normal words --almost clinical-- but said w/ a nasty inflection.

trumancoyote said:

Because swear words are the most useful And they give you the feeling of doing as the Romans do, so to speak: that you're a part of the culture because you're using something so intimately related to their usual forms of expression.

Japanese swear words are boring, though. They're normal words --almost clinical-- but said w/ a nasty inflection.

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You know, I knew I shouldn't have gone to a Catholic school to learn Chinese - they must've made the profs sign contracts that forbade teaching swear words.

Thanks for the pic adjustment, btw, Zach.

Why don't you use some in your Idol entry? No one will know what they mean. How's your story coming along, Zach?

It's almost done. Finished it last night, but I'm cutting it to **** today.

I used some Chinese in my Eunuch story. I was tempted to use more in later stories, but I don't want to be a one-trick monkey.

No problem on the pic adjustment, Hot Momma. I didn't mean to be so snappy about it; I just wanted to see your face for all it was worth.

A Jew in Catholic school?
Write a story, please.

trumancoyote said:

A Jew in Catholic school?
Write a story, please.

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I set both JFF entry #30 and #55. But, you know, they aren't Idol finalist quality posts, to be fair.

I actually have been working on a book about Jews and Georgetown for a couple of years now - part memoir, part history. If you've heard of Dan Oren's Joining the Club about Jews and Yale, it's kinda sorta along those lines, but not really.

So Zach "wo ai ni" means I love you? How do you pronounce the words?

Sorry to pummel you with questions, Zach, but are a student at ASU?

Wo -- like wall but without the l's.

ai -- just like the letter "i"

ni -- like "knee" with a short "e"

mommie4a said:

I set both JFF entry #30 and #55. But, you know, they aren't Idol finalist quality posts, to be fair.

I actually have been working on a book about Jews and Georgetown for a couple of years now - part memoir, part history. If you've heard of Dan Oren's Joining the Club about Jews and Yale, it's kinda sorta along those lines, but not really.

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I'd read number 30, but I just now read number 55 for the first time! You accomplish so much in such a short amount of words, Jill. I liked it And they were both by far a lot more clean than any entry I've ever submitted.

Yes, I'm a student at ASU.

And Rhymenstein, it's kinda pronounced "whoa eye knee"... like, if you were expressing surprise at finding an eyeball on someone's knee. Heheh.

Oh I love that. I've learned something new today.

A profile I'm working on will be in a future ASU Magazine issue.

Ray's 'wall' explanation of the pronounciation of 'wo' is a lot better than mine.

Listen to him.

Now, Ray... how do we explain tones over the 'net? Heheh.

mommie4a said:

A profile I'm working on will be in a future ASU Magazine issue.

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Really? Where/when can I find it? And what's it about?

The world is too small

Don't even start with the tones. And if you think Mandarin is bad... try to learn Cantonese.

Why would I want to learn to speak like a barking dog?

Isn't 'wo' something like 'ngo' in Cantonese?
That scares me.

trumancoyote said:

Really? Where/when can I find it? And what's it about?

The world is too small

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Don't know - they're just buying it and holding it until they're ready to use it. It will be about an alumna ('79 - journalism - worked at the AZ Republic, then the Pasadena Sun, then the Orange County Register before switching to cartooning)who's one of a only a handful of female syndicated cartoonists in the world.

trumancoyote said:

Why would I want to learn to speak like a barking dog?

Isn't 'wo' something like 'ngo' in Cantonese?
That scares me.

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Now come on, barking dogs only speak in the fourth tone.