Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Vegetarians and Paper Shredders

A few days ago, I was in class learning about food from my employee, Mark.

Mark : If someone is trying to cheat you, and you are getting angry, you can say, "[DON'T TRY TO CHEAT ME! I'M NOT A] CHI SU DE REN."
Me (writing it down) : Ah, okay.
Mark : Or, you can say about someone else, "[Don't try to cheat him. He's not a] chi su de ren."
Me (with a look of realization) : Wait. Wait. "Chi su de ren"? Vegetarian?
Mark : Yes!

So, basically here 'Vegetarian' is an insult reserved for the gullible. Sorry, Michael and Amy. When you come, I'll do my best to explain that you don't eat meat, but you're not 'vegetarians,' per se.

And then, yesterday:

Me (seeing a paper shredder) : I want one of these so bad.
Mark : Oh... what is it?
Me : It says in Chinese what it is.
Mark : But what does it do?
Me : It cuts up paper!
Mark : I know, but... why?
Me : So other people can't read it!
Mark (laughing) : But you can just burn it!

Silly Americans with their paper shredders.

4 comments:

evan said...

Missy is a 'vegetarian' too!

Isn't it dumb how we shred paper and then put it in plastic bags all nice and sealed up so as to make sure that one of the few biodegradable products we use, isn't?

Erin said...

I hope you get a chance to laugh as much as I do about the stuff you post.

Too funny. I can't handle it.

Mickey said...

ahahaha

drew said...

I'll also address these in order.

1. Yeah, no joke--Mark told me later that he had thought that shredders were for the purposes of chopping up paper to recycle it and make new paper. I really don't understand why this isn't done. Also! If you have a blog, I can't see where it is!

2. Hehe, these two conversations especially both had me rolling. After the vegetarian conversation I couldn't stop laughing for the rest of class. I'd pull myself together, and five minutes later I'd lose it again.

3. IF THAT IS MICKEY KIM THEN WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU. If it isn't... Well, it's going to be hard to be as enthusiastic. No offense or anything.