This Modern World

Jay,
I'm trying to work on my major proposal, but I don't really know where to begin. Is there any way I could look at previous students' proposals?
Thanks,
Emily

Yes. Ask Shyvonne Shaw to share hers with you.
J

Shyvonne,
Hi. I'm trying to design a logic major and I was wondering if I could see your proposal? I'm not too clear on what they're looking for.
Thanks a lot,
Emily

Groupwise: the email that you sent to sshaw@smith.edu was deleted unread, as though you were a vile spammer not worthy of assistance.

Now what?


Today I was doing Chinese at the breakfast table, as I always do, when one of the supplementary vocab items caught my eye:
to eat tofu, to flirt (Taiwan).
This morning in class, we recited the dialogues from the book. Nina's went like this:
Li: Wang Hua, do you know how to make Mapo tofu? I love to eat tofu.
Wang: Be careful, or I will hit you!
Li: That is not what I meant.
Wang: What did you mean?
Li: I am sick of eating dorm food... etc.
While Nina and Kelsey were reading this, the native speakers were all giggling. I giggled too, pleased to be in on the joke, since I was clearly the only lao wai (foreigner) who got it. Li laoshi, our professor, said "Do you understand the meaning?"
I said, in Chinese, "Yes! It has two meanings: to eat bean curd and to flirt."
The native speakers giggled even harder.
Li laoshi shook his head. "No, it has two meanings, you are right. But second meaning is not flirt, it is take advantage, man take advantage of woman. Any man says this to you in China, you should hit him. HA!"
As it turns out, only Taiwanese people will get this joke, so I should be okay in Beijing. Not that I needed something else to worry about after the chapter on what happens if you drink the water!