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1500 questions
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2 answers

Subway door announcement mystery

I think probably every metro system around the world has to have an audio announcement warning passengers to stay away from the train's doors as they're closing. Here in New York, a pre-recorded voice phrases it this way:　"Stand clear of the closing…
Tang Nawen
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What's a good word for "creepy" in Chinese?

I realize that the English word "creepy" is a slang with many different meanings. I'm referring to the way someone might describe unwanted sexual advances. For example, That guy over there staring at me is kinda creepy. I'm not trying to shame…
Evelyn
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Is There A Chinese Version of Urban Slang Dictionary?

Many questions on this site concern various modern slang/dialect usages that require fairly extensive (and sometimes still unsuccessful) searches through the web. Every time I think about these questions, I wonder about whether, if I were a Chinese…
Master Sparkles
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Why always go up or down?

We (me and my parents) always say: "上厕所", and: "上卧室", ect. We (me and my parents) always say: "下厨房". Personally my house has the kitchen at the top floor. Why is that?
ʇolɐǝz ǝɥʇ qoq
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Does 华裔 mean 'overseas Chinese'?

Is 华裔 a term that means an ethnically Chinese person born and raised abroad? What about 2nd generation? Does it apply to, say, American born Chinese, Chinese-Canadians, Chinese-Australians, Chinese-Singaporeans, Chinese-Vietnamese etc? It obviously…
Alex Quan
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Prefacing questions with 请问

When I ask a stranger for directions or other information I begin with 请问. It is especially important for me to use some opening phrase since people do not expect a foreigner to speak Chinese to them, and my accent is far from great. But I wonder…
Colin McLarty
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Why the change in tones of the words in some phrases?

I am a native Cantonese speaker. I found that we have to change the tones of some words, when used in particular phrases. But I don't know why. It seems that it doesn't follow any "rules of changing tone" like those in Mandarin. An example is 蘭,…
velut luna
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Official place names

Is there an official list of place names (esp. for non-Chinese places)? If a bureaucrat or journalist in China is writing about a lesser-known foreign place, how do they determine the characters? I usually use Google maps for Chinese place names,…
jsj
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Difference between 别 and 不

I know that a typical way to negate a verb is to stick 不 in front of it. But I learned some phrases that use 别 instead: 别担心, 别客气 and so on, all of them in short polite fixed phrases. I know that I could change 别 into 不 in those phrases too. So…
liori
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How to correctly use 恐怕

According to Pleco, 恐怕 has 2 definitions fear; dread; be afraid of perhaps; probably; maybe The second definition is what I am struggling with. I was taught that it is similar to 也许, but in using 恐怕 other reasons must first be stated. For…
TheRealFakeNews
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Character 瞓: where did the pronunciations come from?

The character 瞓 is a Cantonese character meaning "sleep". It is pronounced xùn in mandarin and fan3 in Cantonese. I was wondering how two so different pronunciations (I would expect xun to match syun or similar and fan to match fen or similar) came…
MickG
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What is the English equivalent of 拜托, and what is it's proper usage in Chinese?

I quite like the expression 拜托, but I've never been 100% sure of what exactly it means in English, and I'm not quite sure how to use it properly in Chinese. Little help?
Ciaocibai
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Tàu-tīn vs. tsò-hué in Hokkien

According to 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典, both 鬥陣 (tàu-tīn) and 做伙 (tsò-hué / tsè-hé) mean 一起 (though the former is also explained as 一块儿 and the latter as 結伴、偕同). I was therefore wondering what differences there are between them, if any. Also, how is it that in…
MickG
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What is the etymology of 氫?

Because this is a relatively recent word, I can't find any etymological information in the sources I'm familiar with. An old text that I found which uses this word is 《太平御覽·卷柏》: 氫鱍成性，終無自伸。 but I have no clue what this sentence has to do with…
HAL
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How can the expression "高就" be understood grammatically?

I've heard the phrase 您高就 without an interrogative rise at the end. The way it was spoken sounded like a statement, but in context it was more like a question. Can this phrase be a question? Or was I misunderstanding how it was being used? What…
2snacc
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