David beat me to the punch on this one, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t forget your vade mecum. Whatever that is.

a2a_linkname=”Vade Mecum?”;
a2a_linkurl=”http://simpsonsparadox.com/2008/05/vade-mecum.html”;
a2a_color_main=”fbfefd”;a2a_color_border=”1cba90″;a2a_color_link_text=”010905″;a2a_color_link_text_hover=”3ec176″;

Tags: Chinglish, classicists, huh?, KTV, latin

In Beijing, it’s hard to get away from the Olympic improvements. I think the changes are somewhere between using the good china for company, and completely reinventing your wardrobe, habits and personality to attract some guy from history class. (Not that I ever did that) I’m seeing more and more English around town, and English-language […]

I met Joe about a month ago when he asked me to sub for Christina’s class one day, and he’s offered me occasional tutoring and substitute gigs since then. Subbing in an American middle school looks like torture, but subbing for Chinese-middle schoolers rocks. Basically I turn up, introduce myself, giggle at a few of […]

I know this isn’t the greatest picture, but the circular is pretty shiny and it’s hard to get a good shot. I hope you can at least see that the trendy alphabet window stickers spell out “go home”!!! Not-so-subliminal message, anyone?
Edit: You should all know that Stick calls this store Leeroy Jenkins.

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First, here’s a Danwei article about the way the F-bomb pops up in Chinglish translations, and why. Check it out, if only for the screenshot of the computer translations.
Lost Laowai talks about the Rape of Nanking. And not in the CCTV9 70th anniversary documentary way, either.
…it surprised me that I had gone a quarter […]

I got a pack of Hello Kitty reward stickers at the supermarket to give to my students. (I have one class with three girls called Kitty, and that makes saying “Hello, Kitty!” hilarious.) It was an assortment of stickers, with normal ones like Nice Work, Well Done and Super!, but there were also some unusual […]

This Saturday, Stick and I went out to German restaurant in Fengtai. We planned to trek out there, have lunch and then, assuming an authentic German restaurant didn’t exist in a vacuum, wander around the area.
Der Landgraf was easily spotted because it had a winterized beer garden in front, a very auspicious beginning to our […]

My TAs insist that Pike, Elics and Filick are English boys’ names. Their reasoning behind each choice is that they know someone by that name. I don’t doubt it for a second, but my role as imported English teacher is to reduce giggle-worthy Chinglish, not spread it.
Anyway, it’s probably better that I’m not allowed to […]

I got a copy of Becoming Jane a few days ago. Do you like the description on the back?
If you like the Chinglish blurb, you can read the rest of it here. It’s from the Amazon.com page for Becoming Jane: The Wit and Wisdom of Jane Austen, by Anne Newgarden. (Scroll down to “Book description”)

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After my last post (and this one, this one, and, actually, almost everything else I’ve written about China), I need to explain that I don’t really hate all Chinese food. There are some amazing foods here, like scallion-egg pancakes and those little red plums. Most food in Yantai is fine, just fine, in a way […]