Chinese lesson of the day
中国 (zhōng guó)
1. noun: the country of China
2. verb: to be cheated, to have something unexpectedly break, to be rudely treated, or to otherwise be screwed over
i.e. - After waiting for half an hour at the bank, she got zhong guo-ed when someone cut right to the front of the line.
Ok. So that second definition is made up. But it is appropriate and accurate, and something that will enter into the permanent vocabulary of anyone who has spent time in China.
The other day I bought a new blow dryer. I got greedy though and bought the cheapest one at the store - 30 kuai, compared to the higher-end ones that were 200 kuai. I was all excited to not have to sleep with wet hair that first night, but when I turned it on it started smelling like burning rubber. I realized the blow dryer was smoking. All of a sudden it popped and shut off. After a short career of about 15 seconds, this high quality piece of Chinese manufacture died.
This, friends, is what it means to be zhong guo-ed.
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because "shanghello" just didn't sound right
hi!
Welcome to my study abroad blog! I'll be spending my fall semester at East China Normal University in Shanghai.
This will be my place for posting photos, updates, funny stories, interesting facts, and probably some uninteresting ones as well.
As always, thanks for reading.
This will be my place for posting photos, updates, funny stories, interesting facts, and probably some uninteresting ones as well.
As always, thanks for reading.
About Me
- tiff
- You know me.
8 comments:
hey tiff !!!
i love your bloooooooog yaaay youre awesomeeee
hopefully there won't be more occurrences of being zhong guo-ed over the next few months!
ah yes.. a definition i was unfortunately forced to learn first hand.
hahaha i had so much fun reading your blogs (i had a few to catch up on) but i'm glad to hear you are doing well in shanghai (despite the hair dryer incident, of course). i start family group today and i'm sad that you're not going to be in mine this entire semester!
and ditto to the comment you made about how being ex-pats can bring random groups of people together. i've had countless conversations with random foreigners in korea and it's crazy just how much you can relate to them without ever having met them before. craaaazy.
anyway continue to update me! this blog was a good idea :) oh, and my family is moving to shanghai as soon as they sell their apartment - which will probably be around late october? when i find out where we'll be living i'll give you a call! i'll most likely be spending this winter vacation in shanghai, so hopefully we'll have at least a ONE day overlap in shanghai to hang out! how cool would that be?!
classic. moment.
wish I could've heard you tell it first-hand. It's not the same without the Tiff chortle.
classic. moment.
wish I could've heard you tell it first-hand. It's not the same without the Tiff chortle.
in Japanese, the characters are read chookoku. Could it be used like "You just got punk'd?"
"YOU JUST GOT ZHONG GUO'D/ CHOOKOKU'D!!!"
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