These are a Few of My Favorite (Chinese) Sayings

We're eight months into Chinese lessons and some days I feel I'm getting the hang of it, while other days I hear a conversation and don't recognize a single word. That said, I've learned some great phrases that nail the meaning of some things better than English words. Here are a few of my favorites:

Dan xin -- To worry. Dan mean burden and xin means heart, so if you worry, you have a burdened heart. So true.

Xiao xin -- "Be careful." The literal translation is "small heart", because if you have a small heart you're careless. Pretty clever.

Jian shen fang -- Gym, or healthy (jian) body (shen) place (fang). Pretty straightforward and reminds me why I need to go!

Ben dan -- Idiot, or literally "stupid egg."

Dian nao -- Computer, or electric (dian) brain (nao). Similarly, dian ying (movie) is electric shadow.

Ren kou -- Population, or person's (ren) mouth (kou).

Lu cha biao -- "Green tea bitch." This is slang for a person who looks nice and friendly (like green tea, I guess), but who really isn't. Love this.

Bai fu mei -- The "ideal" woman, which, as translates as having a white complexion (bai), having money (fu) and being beautiful (mei).

Gao fu shuai -- To keep it equal, of course, these are the male ideals. Tall (gao), rich (fu) and handsome (shuai). Pretty similar to our "tall, dark and handsome" saying.

Da bian -- To poop. Da means big and bian is short for convenient. So defecating is, you know, a big convenience. Can't argue with that -- unless you're not in a convenient place when the urge emerges!