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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Chi fan le ma?
How do you answer this question? For my part I know it's actually a greeting that simply means 'hi' but still every time I hear it I answer according to it's literal meaning, ie. "Hai mei you" or "Zhunbei chi" or "Xiexie, wo chile hen da de yige bisa he yidian bingqilin, dan wo chile tai duo. Xianzai jiu xiang outu. Ni ne?" I'm not much of one for routine pleasantries and instruct my students to never answer the question "How are you?" with "I'm fine thank you, and you?" but to opt instead for "I've got a dicky tummy" or "Not great, my dog's just died" or anything to break from the normal pattern of tedium that such routine answers invoke.
And while we're on the subject of rice and routine, is it 'really' necessary to say 'Chi fan' at EVERY meal? My father-in-law (a lovely man) says it like a nervous tic. There are about four smoking dishes of food laid out on the table and a steaming pot of rice the size of a tractor tire in the middle, and i'm looking straight at them, with no mystery as to what we are about to do next, but sure as eggs is eggs, he sits down and says it like we were waiting for instruction. It's really the most glaring example of obsessive compulsive behaviour. I swear to God, i'd kiss the man if just once he'd sit down and say instead, "You lot, f**k off, i'm gonna have dinner."
I usually say something cheerful like, "wow that is a lot of food you've found for the dog, now what do we eat?" or "LADUUUUUUUUZIIIIII" (that's Chinese for "Smile" right?)
mArtiAn:
I hope you're not seriously asking me for confirmation of a Chinese translation. My brother made the mistake of asking me for a greeting to make to the guy in the local Chinese takeaway back home. I told him to bow slightly as a show of respect and say "Wo xiang kan nide pigu."
That "chi fan le ma" or "chi le mei you" greeting is pretty repetitive. I usually answer with "I can't afford food," "I don't speak Chinese," "wo you bing," "wo de niao hao you shenjingbing," or something equally crazy.
In fact, it's so repetitive that it makes me think of... FOOD IN CHINA ON A 30-DAY VISA!
At one point I was convinced that my father in law actually thought my name was "Chi Fan!"