A few recent adventures in my Mother Tongue: 1. My friend G. said, “I demanistrated him. Wait, what’s that word I mean? You know, make him less of a man?” It took us about five minutes to pull it out of the deep recesses of our English brains: emasculate. But ‘demanistrate’ is so poetic, is it not? And I think if you can defenestrate, you should also be able to demanistrate. (Okay, I know fenestrate and defenestrate are not actually opposites. But still. It sounds nice.) 2. T.’s parents were here from California this past week to visit him, and it was really fun to meet them! His dad and I were talking and he asked me, “How much longer have you been here than T.?” And my subconscious brain said “Say wha’? That’s a much more complicated grammar structure than I’m used to hearing!” And my tongue said, “A year ago.” Which is, of course, not the right answer. His dad had a brief, ‘Oh, so you’re a little bit slow, aren’t you?’ moment I’m sure. At least I recognized my mistake right away...
Comments
I get the rice/cream thing.
But what do they put in their coffee? Rice?
Or is there NO coffee? If so, that is one more reason for me to stay home. :)
BBS, coffee isn't popular here. Most people drink tea. You can find coffee, but usually only in the large cities and it's expensive. I've never seen liquid cream, only the powdered stuff, also expensive.
I bought cream from the import store to make sour cream, but the average person here has never tasted or seen real cream. Butter and cheese can also be difficult to find.
*scratches head*
I can't wait to hear more about the rice culture in China. I find China fascinating as it is.