Idio (ma) tic

The Chinese have an idiom for just about everything, and they use them a lot. Indeed, if you want to get anywhere really serious in China (as a foreigner I mean) with your language, you probably need to know a good few for everyday use. I know barely any, because they can be quite hard to learn (four words to represent whole concepts, with underlying stories, etc) and because we just don't seem to be taught them so often. I digress.

Here's one of them: 将错就错 (jiang cuo jiu cuo) which means "to leave a mistake uncorrected and make the best of the situation" ... I think this is supposed to convey a sense of chivalry and ability to let things slide - the example in our books was of a boy who had his birthday; his sister brought him a cake, but he was leaving his room, so he placed it carefully outside a friend's, and thought he would collect it when he got back; however, when he returned, the occupant of the other room was celebrating HER birthday, and was eating the cake he'd left; rather than fix the error and complain about them eating his sister's gift, he just said he'd seen someone leave it there and run off, thus 将错就错.

I see it in a different way around me (a most comic way I should add) - the Chinese inability to ask for advice or help with their English, and just plough on regardless of error. The Foreign Language Club at my uni has been organising "trails" (I think they mean trials) for an English speaking competition ... the title of the last debate was "Culture Smart or Science Intelligent?", and while I get the general idea ("Which is more important - Culture or Science?"), it somewhat amazes me that they didnt even think to ASK for some advice on this, and instead leave their garbled Chinglish on a sign for all to see ...

And let's not forget the student(s) who ask me to help them with their English, notably one guy I saw on Monday. He asked me to speak into his MP3 player so he could record my voice and get good pronunciation for the aforementioned speaking competition. I took a look over his work and asked, "Do you want me to read this as it is, or correct the mistakes first?" ... He came back with, "But I did it all myself, there are no mistakes". After a bit of yes there are, no there aren't-ing between us I said, "Look, you asked for my help, do you want it or not? If you're so sure there are no mistakes in this, why ask me to look at it and read it for you?" ... ah, he saw the light, and accepted my help. Sheesh, I go to Bruce every week with questions! My Chinese is far from perfect. Why would their English be any different?!

Most impressive however, are tshirts. I am really writing this whole post because of tshirts ... Here are some crackers (and if I can find out where they are, I will try and get some, though may not be able to wear them in Britain (in public)).

"I AM A CAT PERSON" (printed around a fish skeleton outline)

"FUCKER" (yeah, just that, in yellow on a purple tshirt)

"IM FUCKING AWESOME" (plain blue print on a white tshirt)

"KING OF AFRICA" (back of a leather jacket, with a map of Africa. kid had no idea)

"I AM NOT BLACK (I LIKE BLACK)" (first line in massive white letters on a black leather jacket, second line in smaller white letters underneath)

"GOODNEWS DELIVERIES"

"IN THE SHOCK"

and the best one yet, seen about an hour ago ...

"HALIBUT COD FILLET PLAICE" (and some other fish whose names i forget, printed in a list running down this girl's pink tshirt



Seriously guys, learn when to ask for advice about this kind of thing. Mind you, there are some really stupid Westerners going around with dumb "Chinese" tattoos, which is probably worse than a tshirt, all things considered.