A Date with Sichuan

Elementary: A Date with Sichuan

"How hot do you like it," he had asked, which was how they ended up in the latest Sichuan restaurant to open in downtown Paris. The setting was a coy pairing of Continental elegance and Oriental exoticism. And it would have made for a perfect date except for some unspoken fear that flitted in the air around them, like the shadow from a bird of prey circling far above.

When the waiter appeared with the menu, her date had simply passed it to her and turned his attention to the nearby Seine, the last rays of the setting sun disappearing over the Île de la Cité, and the few couples winding their ways home through the cobbled streets. Had something in their relationship changed? Was he disinterested, or simply distracted? Deborah was on the verge of broaching the question when their server reappeared and her date snapped to attention. It was time to order.

Lunetta

said on

March 9, 2009

Hi guys! No audio on this one.

Elementary

said on

March 9, 2009

Strange. That's at least the second time it's happened. I think there's something here involving our file-upload process. Re-uploaded. Thanks for the ping, Lunetta.

jim.veseley

said on

March 10, 2009

Nice one.

maxiewawa

said on

March 10, 2009

Waaah I had a big issue with this lesson. I couldn't follow the punchline, the most important part of the dialogue!

Instead of 告诉 to my ears the guy said 告儿, or "gao'rrr" or something, and skipped over the important info. 告 on its own means "to sue/to tell the police" doesn't it? So I was really confused.

Is 告儿 very common?

谢谢帮助！ Or as they say up north, "arr-arr, arr, arr, arrr."

maxiewawa

said on

March 10, 2009

Oh I just heard the explanation. 懂儿了儿！

Echo

said on

March 10, 2009

@maxiewawa,

Only when it means 告诉，you can say 告儿 instead. If you say 告他，not 告儿他, it means to sue someone.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

jim

said on

March 19, 2009

I laughed my ass off. 10 stars and a pony.

Echo

said on

March 19, 2009

@jim,

那我给你我的地址吧，你能把pony寄给我吗？要小的哦~ :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

zodjones

said on

March 20, 2009

@echo,

没问题。小马驹子肉火锅特别好吃。但我不吃，也拉肚子。

oh, I guess I morphed into zod from Jim. But I am/was Jim.

Echo

said on

March 20, 2009

@zod/jim,

原来你说的是吃...可怜的小马...

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

nadasax

said on

May 16, 2009

the pdf has the male dialogue out of order for his second and third lines...

nice lesson though =)

Elementary

said on

May 16, 2009

@nadasax - line order in the transcript is fixed - thanks for the heads up. this one is based on real-life events incidentally. we have a love/hate relationship with Sichuan here....

--dave

jyh

said on

March 27, 2010

In the dialog the woman says 那你带我到这个饭店来干么 but in one of the "干么 vs.为什么" examples Echo says 你为什么带我来这儿。

Is it because 这儿 is short that it is possible (better?) to move 来 in front of it?

Echo

said on

March 29, 2010

@jyh,

It was because I didn't use 到 in my sentence. If I used 到, then I should say 到 somewhere 来.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

jyh

said on

March 29, 2010

@Echo - Oh, I should have managed to figure that one out on my own. Thank you.

neehnahw

said on

August 19, 2010

Do you always need 来 after the place when you have 带 if you want to say "bring to X"?

What's the difference between 我不吃 and 我不要吃; is it like 'will not eat' vs 'do not want to eat'?

Oh and why is the 了 after 吃 and not after 拉肚子 in the 2nd line?

Echo

said on

August 19, 2010

@neehnahw,

Q1, it depends on the situations. If there is a 到 in the sentence, then you need 来 after the place. For example, 我带他到这个饭店来。If there is no 到 in that sentence, you need to put 来 after 他. Like 我带他来这个饭店。

Q2, Yes.

Q3, it is because the person hasn't eaten the food or had the stomach problem. It is an assumption. Assuming you have the food, you will 拉肚子.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

neehnahw

said on

August 22, 2010

re: Q3, hmm but in the second line , he's talking about the last time he ate, which means he already had diarrhea in the past. will it be redundant if there's still a 了 after 拉肚子?

Echo

said on

August 24, 2010

@neehnahw,

Oh sorry, you are right. I was looking at the last line :(

Grammatically it's not wrong if you add a 了 after 拉肚子 or after 拉, because that's past tense. However, the speaker speaks very colloquial Mandarin, and he also wants to speak quickly and briefly. That's why there's no second 了.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

apoorvashah101

said on

April 20, 2012

Whoever writes the introductions is a very creative writer.

trevelyan

said on

April 20, 2012

Thanks apoorvashah101! Hopefully you like the podcasts too. :)

apoorvashah101

said on

April 21, 2012

当然！

its funny because whenever i learn something new on popup chinese, it shows up in my chinese class at school a few weeks later.

Xiao Hu

said on

April 21, 2012

@apoorvashah101,

Of course. I've been enjoying Brendan and David topping themselves for several years now, and somehow they keep pushing the bar higher and higher. Someday these lesson introductions will be collected into a coffee table edition.

squarks

said on

April 8, 2015

I think of "gànmá" as "why on earth". I think that helps me understand the sentiment.

duke.villanueva

said on

September 23, 2015

Hahaha. Having lived in Chongqing for around three and a half years now I can totally relate to this podcast and Sichuan-style cooking, with all its Sichuan peppercorns "huajia" and a spicy red pepper "lajiao", and what it will do to your bowels.

tigerclaw

said on

October 26, 2017

This was an awesome and funny podcast, 我要记得不要去paris吃川菜。

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