The Missing Plunger

Elementary: The Missing Plunger

There are some words you'll never learn in a traditional classroom, and plunger is one of them. Which is where Popup Chinese comes in. Because when the day comes you have a genuine sewage emergency, the last thing you're going to want to do is bring your dictionary into the fray. So join us in this podcast as we plumb the depths of toilet humor with a podcast that is quite literally the filthiest thing we've ever recorded.

brett

said on

April 6, 2009

I just spat milk out my nose listening to this. Great dialogue. Thanks for ruining breakfast.

menglelan

said on

April 6, 2009

皮搋子加油！！！

toneandcolor

said on

April 6, 2009

I'm utterly lost as to the most natural English translation of 拉完, or, for that matter, a situation in which I would want to express this to anybody. Repulsive podcast. But not completely without merit. Maybe it's true that the grosser something is, the easier it is to remember. I don't think I'll ever forget 掏 now.

hotpotmike

said on

April 6, 2009

Hilarious dialog. I feel the vocab and dialog have been permanently etched into my memory. Thanks Popup.

trevelyan

said on

April 6, 2009

@toneandcolor & @mike - "Not filthy enough," we said, which was when they came up with the restaurant bit. I don't think I'll ever forget 掏 now either.

maxiewawa

said on

April 6, 2009

Hahaha reminds me of Monty Python!

Frank

said on

April 6, 2009

"Plumb the depths of toilet humor." Nice to see you guys give a crap about keeping things witty around here. :)

barrister

said on

April 7, 2009

@toneandcolor - the translator in me would lean sort of euphemistically towards *exhausted*. Perhaps something like, "hours after the hotpot had entered his system, it had finally run its course, exhausting him much as he had exhausted it."

I'll leave it to Frank to craft something truly literary. I'm still in shock at what they dredged up today.

Echo

said on

April 7, 2009

Hey guys,

You really have no idea how we felt recording this one ...

Count yourselves lucky -- David wanted it even more disgusting.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

bonita.delmonte

said on

April 7, 2009

Sweet Lord this podcast is disgusting. This is certainly a diet podcast.

nadasax

said on

May 17, 2009

那个是可得kěde还是可得kěděi吗？如果是第二的，也许应该explain得de和得děi有什么不同？

perhaps if thats dei3 that could have been a grammar point? the difference between de and dei3? (forgive the pidgin chinese;)

Gail天堂的声音

said on

May 17, 2009

@nadasax,

得de is a particle inserted between a verb/adjective and its complement

得dei3 is a adverb which means "must" or "have to".

enjoy...

nadasax

said on

May 18, 2009

@gail

对，我的建议是explain this for the people since it is an elementary lesson and maybe some don't know...its a good chance to show people how its used in this cast and touch on a grammar point as well =)

Gail天堂的声音

said on

May 18, 2009

@nadasax,

thanks for your suggestion. we will pay attention to that in the future.

jyh

said on

March 28, 2010

@Gail - I will take up the discussion where nadasax had left it a year ago :-). How does 得 deĭ work with 可 kĕ here? The way I understand it,可 indicates possibility (through permission or ability) while 得 indicates obligation. How from that do we arrive to the meaning of "you had better..." in the translation? Is that an idiom? If not, can you please give another example where 得 would be used with a similar effect/purpose?

Second question: The mătŏng clogger says 拉完. Would 拉完了 have been correct too？

Gail天堂的声音

said on

March 29, 2010

@jyh,

you are right, 得 here indicates obligation, however, 可 has another meaning. Instead of indicating possibility, 可 here is an adverb to emphasize the word after it. In the dialogue we have 你可得请我吃饭。("You must have to treat me to dinner.") Here we have some other examples:

这个问题你可得给我解释清楚。Literal translation: You must have to explain the problem to me clearly.

今天很冷，你可别感冒了。It's pretty cold today. Make sure you will not catch a cold.

她对我可好了。She treats me very well.

For your second question: It is also correct of you say 拉完了 here.

gail@popupchinese.com

jyh

said on

March 29, 2010

@Gail - Thank you so much for the explanation and great examples. Is this usage of 可 good for both speech and writing?

I am afraid I am still struggling with 了, at least in common speech. I just have no "feel" yet for when it's OK to omit it. Would 拉完 and 拉完了 both be correct in writing? If I have to err on one side, I would rather sound like a textbook (until I develop some ear for the language) rather than being occasionally completely wrong because of a missing 了.

Intermediate

said on

March 29, 2010

@jyh,

Oddly enough, we have another case of 可 being used for emphasis in our lesson for today. Tricky thing about this usage is that is it emphasizing 是, which makes it especially tricky for people to pick up who are only used to 可 as shorthand for 可是:

This usage is much more common in spoken Chinese than written Chinese. I've never seen a regular textbook that has really introduced or explained this usage at least.

--david

Gail天堂的声音

said on

March 29, 2010

@jyh, @david,

This usage of 可 is more common in spoken Chinese, but we can also use in in writen Chinese sometimes.

It's always very tricky when people come up with 了, people have to learn some time to manage the usage of it...

加油！

jyh

said on

March 29, 2010

@david - Then I guess I should wait to hear that lesson before I try rebuilding my mental map of 可, which was turned upside down by the last exchange with Gail and her very useful examples.

That's one of the great features of Popup Chinese to expose the listener to speech patterns and expressions that they will never see in a textbook. I am always excited when I recognize one of these in a song that I am listening to (I am a big fan of Taiwanese indie rock).

@Gail - I think that I progressively getting the hang of when it's correct to add the 了 (and the discussion with you & Echo last November-December regarding the use of 了 in advice or warning greatly helped). What I don't get *at all* is when it's OK to omit it in common speech. That completely mystifies me.

walid.shaari

said on

September 10, 2010

am I the only one who is becoming aware of how twisted these popupchinese dialogues are? not that i like them but they are unique, no way a text book or another podcast would do the same. I hope not all lessons are like this

orbital

said on

September 10, 2010

This is one of the best (worst?). I remember David mentioning he particularly liked this one. And while most aren't this disgusting, some of the upper level dialogues are pretty strange. Memorable though, which is what really matters.

walid.shaari

said on

September 10, 2010

;-) yes i guess they do leave some marks behind

user19788

said on

April 25, 2011

You guys are great. I read the English transcript and was totally grossed out but your lessons are so casually down to earth lessons but still have a lot of substance in a short dialogue. I will be buying a subscription as soon as I find a job.

Echo

said on

April 26, 2011

@user19788,

Haha, thank you! And welcome too! 欢迎你加入泡泡中文大家庭！

也祝你找工作好运！

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

user20067

said on

April 28, 2011

I am so grossed out but you have made a fan out of me at the same time. I love how you guys can make a lesson that is so casual and funny and still keep it really educational. I like how a good portion of the audio is repetition of the dialogue and how you still manage to keep it short and still show a lot of personality in your short conversations.

I will subscribe.....as soon as I find a job!

Echo

said on

April 28, 2011

@user20067,

Thanks and lol! Are you the same person as "user19788"? :) Welcome to join us anyway!

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

cb577

said on

April 19, 2012

Could I ask what the difference is between '马桶' and ’厕所' i.e. is 马桶 the word to use for a squat toilet and 厕所 a sit down toilet

also can one say

我要上马桶 like one may say 我要上厕所 ?

orbital

said on

April 20, 2012

@cb577,

厕所 is the location, 马桶 is the physical tool made of porcelain. I think it applies to both squat toilets and the Western kind. And I'm not sure if you can grammatically say 我要上马桶 (用 is probably better), but you wouldn't because it would be way too specific.

oyamakuma

said on

January 30, 2014

这对话比较恶心了，但是很有用。我觉得在中国用厕所比较麻烦。

Chastitybrothobe

said on

February 21, 2014

This dialogue is a thing of majesty.

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