Cheap AND delicious

syz — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:58:20 +0000

The YU cafeteria is one of the best audio links to Old Beijing. Over the clink of dishes and the munching of radish tucked inside your bǐng (饼 = pan bread) you can listen idly to the deals that the city used to offer.

[Transcript linked to audio available on this page -- click on the asterisks at the left of each line to start the audio at that point.]

[Go to website or bottom of this post to listen to audio]

1	YU	Guòqù Běijīng a, jiù jiùshi nèige, jiùshi, wǒ, wǒ shì mài luóbo de,	过去北京呀，就就是那个，就是，我，我是卖萝卜的	In the past in Beijing, uh, well, I, if I was a radish seller,
2	YU	mài luóbo de ne, wǒ dāngshí wǒ jiù zài nèr xiāo, màide shíhòu(r), nǐ lái mǎi luóbo, dāngshí wǒ jiù gěi nǐ xiāo hǎo le.	卖萝卜的呢，我当时我就在那儿削，卖的时候，你来买萝卜，当时我就给你削好了。	well, a radish seller, right at the time I’d, I’d peel it right there, right when I’m selling — you come to buy a radish, I peel it for you right there on the spot.
3	SYZ	A, shì ma?	哦，是吗？	Oh really?
4	YU	Xiāo hǎo le yǐhòu dōu gěi nǐ qiē chéng nèi yītiáo(r) yītiáo(r) de, nǐ ná zhe ne, bāi yī bǎir jiù kěyǐ chī.	削好了以后都给你切成那一条一条的，你拿着呢，掰一掰儿就可以吃。	After it’s peeled they cut it up into strips for you, then you take it, break off a piece and eat it.
5	YU	Běijīng guòqù yǒu zhèiyàng mài luóbo de.	北京过去有这样卖萝卜的。	Beijing used to have this kind of radish seller.
6	YU	Suǒyǐ tā nèr jiù yǒu nèige xiāo xiàlai de luóbor pí.	所有他那儿就有那个削下来的萝卜儿皮	So they have right there that radish peel that they just peeled off.
7	SYZ	Nà, nà, zěnme, zěnme chī?	那那怎么怎么吃？	Then, then, how — how do they eat it?
8	YU	Jiù zhème chī, zhèi zhǒng luóbo jiùshi kěyǐ shēng chīde … a.	就这么吃，这种萝卜就是可以生吃的。。嗯	Just like that, this kind of radish can be eaten raw, really.
9	SYZ	Shì ma?	是吗？	Really? [mouth stuffed with bǐng]
10	SYZ	Bù là?	不辣？	It’s not spicy?
11	YU	Bù là. Ránhòu nèige …	不辣，然后那个。。	It’s not spicy. Then, uh …
12	YU	Tā … pángbiānr jiù kěyǐ xiāo xiàlái yī dà duī luóbo pí, mài de tèbié piányi.	他。。旁边就可以削下来一大堆萝卜皮，卖得特别便宜	They … to the side there’s this big pile of radish peel they sell really cheap.
13	YU	Guāng mài nèi pí. Yīnwèi tā luóbo, qíshí mài luóbo de shíhòu dōu yǐjīng bǎ nèi pí de qián yě dōu mài chū qù le. Ránhòu tā zhèi tóur tā tā tèbié piányi, ránhòu jiù …	光卖那皮。因为他萝卜，其实卖萝卜的时候都已经把那皮的钱也都卖出去了。然后他这头儿他他特别便宜，然后就。。。	They sell up the skin, because their radish, actually when they sold the radish they already got the value for the skin anyway. So this is how it’s really cheap, then, well, …
14	YU	Yǒu de shíhòu pèngshang le, jiù kěyǐ mǎi zhèige guāng yān zhèige luóbo pí, tèbié hǎo chī.	有的时候碰上了，就可以买这个，光腌这个萝卜皮，特别好吃。	Sometimes you run into this and you can buy just this salted radish peel. Really delicious.
15	YU	(xiào shēng) yòu piányi yòu hǎochī. Āiyou…	（笑声）又便宜又好吃。哎呀。。。	(laughing) Cheap AND delicious. Ahhh…
16	YU	yòu piányi yòu hǎochī.	又便宜又好吃。。。	[reminiscing] Cheap AND delicious.

Keep in mind, though, that the lessons don’t stop at the cafeteria door. First, there’s the reminder of what it means (phonologically and lexically) to be a native Beijinger (from the BJS Longtime Beijinger Checklist):

In everyday speech, a Beijinger…

Characteristic	Analysis
has Pirateshipfuls of érhuàyīn (儿化音 = rhoticization / Beijing-R)	Check out the fleeting Rs all over the place, although I have to say I’m surprised at only one instance of full-on luóbor (萝卜儿), in line 6.
pronounces 那 as nèi or nè (not the “standard” nà) unless it is functioning as a noun	Absolutely flawless.
often elides consonants in the middle of words	Line 6: xiāo xiàlai Line 14: pèngshang and probably a few instance of jiùshi

Old hat, right? But what if we threw in…

Beijing-R 201

Beijing-R 201 is more properly known as Érhuàyīn 201. And actually you’ve been enrolled for years without being entirely aware of it. The subtitle is “Words that are hard to look up in dictionaries cuz the rhoticization muddies everything.”

The good news for today’s Zhonglish speakers is that, thanks to romanization, dictionaries make it pretty easy to look up a word you heard. (Try that with your beloved Hanzi!) Just learn some Pinyin, listen to a word, and off you go.

Still, there are tricks of the trade, and érhuàyīn (儿化音, i.e. rhoticization / “adding an R flavor” / the Beijing-R) plays some of the dirtiest tricks in the phonemic book: a rhoticized word, especially one where you only half-caught the tone or leading consonant, can be damn hard to look up in a standard dictionary.

In this snippet you get bāi yī bǎir, in line 4. That’s what the transcription team came up with in line 4: 掰一掰儿. Sure, it seems okay, but what if you had that bǎir in isolation, with the tone questionable and the final half of the syllable a muddle — would you be able to look it up?

It made me think of the following list, which is by no means complete and may not even offer the best examples; it’s just some flotsam plucked out from Beijing-R 201. Have more? Send your words this way and we’ll add them to the pile. After all, in Beijing a good rhotic syllable is like a good radish peel used to be: cheap AND delicious.

[Go to website or bottom of this post to listen to audio]

Rough pronunciation	“Proper” Pinyin	Characters	Gloss / usage
kuàr	kuàir	块儿	a piece
hǔr, hw̌r?	huǐr	会儿	一会儿，待会儿
húr, hẃr?	huór	活儿	干活儿
gùr, gẁr?	gùnr	棍儿	stick
kǒu zhàr	kǒuzhàor	口罩儿	face mask
xífr	xífur	媳妇儿	wife
jiǎnlr̀	jiǎnlòur	捡漏儿	find a deal (see this post for a tougher pronunciation than YU gives here)

In everyday speech, a Beijinger…

Characteristic	Score
has Pirateshipfuls of érhuàyīn (儿化音 = rhoticization / Beijing-R)	Pass — There’s plenty of cabbies that have it thicker, but the last line, with its wèir wèir wèir, hints that he could put it on as thick as Beijing smog if he wanted to. For the record, we’ll add wèir to the list of words hypothesized to be érhuàyīn-obligatory in Beijing dialect.
pronounces 那 as nèi or nè (not the “standard” nà) unless it is functioning as a noun	N/A
often elides consonants in the middle of words	Pass — examples of elided sh in “Wǒ shì” and “dōu shì”

No doubt a Beijinger, and a territorial one at that. You couldn’t ask for a better pirate representative to tap a bunghole and tip back a mug of grog with you this September 19th.

Tip of the turd

syz — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:59:02 +0000

In case you’re thinking about snagging the first bite of the first moon cake (yuèbǐng = 月饼, the sometimes-tasty-sometimes-nasty traditional food of the holiday) after cracking the seal on the ungodly expensive package, just keep in mind some words of wisdom from YU:

[Go to website or bottom of this post to listen to audio]

Chī shǐ yě děi chī ge jiār.
吃屎也得吃个尖儿。
“Has to eat the tip even when eating a turd” [quoting a traditional folksy saying; bonus BJS-Bucks to the reader who offers a more elegant translation, since this is a pretty hideous rendering]

Jiùshi shuō, nǐ shénme shì dōu yào bájiānr
就是说，你什么事都要拔尖儿。
It means you always have to have the top-notch stuff

Happy and safe holidays to all. Get plenty of rest in advance of yet another one-day weekend, be sure to stay in your hotels, and don’t look out the windows.

Beijing Sounds -- 北京的声儿 » Yuèmǔ U.

Cheap AND delicious

Beijing-R 201

Tip of the turd