Aug 17, 2009 03:07
14 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term
United States
quality and efficiency
Native in: Chinese
Works in: English to Chinese, Chinese to English
eat rice
English to Chinese
Bus/Financial
Slang
"Any thing new? Did you eat rice today?"
What does that mean by "eat rice"?
Thanks!
What does that mean by "eat rice"?
Thanks!
Proposed translations
(Chinese)
| 3 +2 | 吃飽了沒? |
Shirley Chen
|
| 5 +2 | my explaination about "eat rice" in this context. |
Ying Tian
|
| 4 | 吃飯 |
Gertrude Tsau
|
Proposed translations
+2
42 mins
Selected
吃飽了沒?
I think it was translated from “吃飽了沒?” (a very common greeting among Chinese, just like “How are you doing today?”, “What's up?” or “How's it going?”
Please see the joking greeting in someone's Myspace:
---Did You Eat Rice Today?
---~No.....? (chuckling)
---I did, I'm Chinese! (lol).
It's just a guess and for your reference only.
Note from asker:
| Thank you very much Shirley and thank you all! |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Guei Lin
1 hr
|
|
Thank you, Guei.
|
|
| agree |
Kathy Huang (X)
16 hrs
|
|
Thank you, Kathy.
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+2
5 hrs
my explaination about "eat rice" in this context.
"Eat rice" here means "你吃饭了没?" which has a function of greetings. Go back to harder days in China, due to the lack of food (mainly rice), concern about if others have eaten rice or not is a away to show your solicitude for them. from then on it has become a greetings among people. It has the similar function as British people talking about weather as their opening of a conversation.
Note from asker:
| Thank you very much, Ying! |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Wilman
: This is a very common greeting in Cantonese.
4 days
|
| agree |
Gertrude Tsau
6 days
|
6 days
吃飯
你今天吃飯了沒有?
吃飯 means eat meal whether you actually eat bread, or pizza or whatever to fill your stomack for meal.
"吃飯了沒有?" or " 吃飽了沒?" ( Taiwan) is a greeting.
吃飯 means eat meal whether you actually eat bread, or pizza or whatever to fill your stomack for meal.
"吃飯了沒有?" or " 吃飽了沒?" ( Taiwan) is a greeting.
Note from asker:
| Thank you very much, Gertrude! |
Discussion
I think please you eat rice, can you give me this face?
我想请你吃饭，你能给我这个面子吗？