Why some chinese find me strange....

tempax

In Chinese, 油菜 is also called 青菜. I am not sure whether this kind of vegetable grows in other place except Asia.
so, I don't know  whethe it has a common name in English. Anyway, maybe we can call it GREEN VEGETABLE according to its appearance.
As to 葱, I think either shallot or scallion is OK, but I am not sure.
Because you always buy only one youcai, cong, carrot or something else, they wonder why you don't buy more? Chinese people usually buy many things at a time, thus they can reduce the times visiting the market. The refrigerators can help them keep the vegetables green.
Of course, the packman wish they can sell out their vegetable as soon as possible. If every one buy their things like you, when he can finish his deal?
Because most poeple know Chinese is one of the most difficult languages to learn in the world, not only for foreigners, but also for some Chinese people. Actually, many Chinese people cannot speak standard putonghua (mandarin), especially for most people living South China. Some of them even cannot speak one sentence well.
That's why they think you are great once they hear you speak Chinese.

venusian

lol.... when those ladies in veg market get used to your one everything you could start to "get me 3!"

so they keep thinking you are strange.

tempax

To find whether I can reply here.

Anybody can help find whether there is any taboo words as below:

[ Last edited by tempax at 2007-3-13 11:56 PM ]

venusian

congrats

pjtran

my question for you is...why did you pick your SN so close to what i have in mind?

tempax

Originally posted by venusian at 2007-3-13 23:53
congrats

I will get mad if I cannot post any more.

freakyqi

I hope you can post ok now! Thank you for all that info and for your view on it.  I really don't think there is an english word for youcai and cong. I have never seen them in the usual american supermarkets. If they are in asian markets in the US, they are labeled with their chinese names! Cong would be a type of scallion. We could easily say scallion I think, but in the US the scallions are small & very thin, like this picture. So if you say scallion to any american, they will imagine this kind, and when they see the big giant one, they will think "OMG! It's a GIANT SCALLION!! RUN!!!"

Vote # 1 - keep the name cong
Vote  #2 - call it a "giant scallion" or "chinese scallion"


PS - the scallions in this photo would be about the thickness of a pen or your finger if it's not too fat.

[ Last edited by freakyqi at 2007-3-14 12:45 AM ]