I've learned the bestest phrase the other day "ma-ma-hu-hu" (马马虎虎). Literally, this means horse-horse-tiger-tiger, but in conversational Chinese, it is used as describing something as 'so-so.' When it is used to describe a person, I believe that it means 'sloppy' or 'unkempt.' I've been finding great pleasure in repeating this phrase; I think the novelty will wear off soon, but in the meantime, everything will be 马马虎虎.
For those bibliophiles out there, I highly recommend these two books: "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards and "Eats shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss.
The first novel is poignant story about a doctor in the 60s who ends up delivering his wife's twins and deciding to send away one of the infants because she is mentally retarded. The novel then whisks you through the parallel lives of each child and their families. It's wonderfully descriptive and a compelling story. I couldn't put it down and literally stayed up until 2AM to finish it.
"Eats Shoots and Leaves" is a light-hearted, humorous and much needed book in society today. Its a great crash course into the sometimes frightening, yet extremely interesting world of punctuation. I get excited about things that sometimes raise eyebrows; however, this is a fun way of learning! Aren't you afraid to use semi-colons? I've always been apprehensive about plopping ';' into my writing. Fear not! This book breaks down the mystical dots, commas and whatnot into easy-to-understand language. Plus, I learned that Starbursts used to be called Opal Fruits, who knew!?
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1 comment:
Take it from me: the novelty of 'mamahuhu' will never wear off.
And that is something to be celebrated.
:-D
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