Dan R

Right On David! I'd say you observe astutely and state your observations well. And that isn't simply because I agree with what you said I hope ebveryone knows me better than that by now. "This is a sticky one: Because Chinese lady's do not like to share or explain, they might choose to 'hide' an issue because they don't see any [practical] reason for the man to know or get involved. So, on some issues, they don't consider this 'lying' or 'not telling the truth'... They just wish you would not get involved or bring it up. American's have a fetish for 'the truth' or about 'lying'..." My SO is doing her best to teach me this one through action

Well....... nope I can't generalize. So far my SO is different from anyone else I have met in China, Japan, Mexico, Korea, Canada or the U.S. Nope can't even pin point what it is that makes me love her (she has asked me that question though) except that I find the way it all comes together in her irresistable and a joy to be around. Is she Chinese? Yes Is she traditional? sometimes Is she modern? sometimes Is she willing to experiment and learn? Oh yes! Will we have a long and happy future together? Gee that would be wonderful

Well glad she didn't have to wait the 90 days. Good luck, I think

sorry about that Grand Master Trigg. I just don't know what has happened to me. Ever since I started reading posts here I have had a harder and harder time spelling. I find I must look up words in the dictionary that were never a problem before. Do you think we should have CDC look into this?

practise

That is a coincidence on the July date! She never mop slaps that is Trigg's Fang's thing. However if I repeated what she says here I am sure I would rather get mop slapped than what I might receive. She already let me know that during an argument she might "hit". Sssshhhh don't say I repeated that.

Translations of correspondance must be signed by the translator and contain the statement that " I am competant in English Chinese translation and have translated accurately the attached letter". Or a similar statement. If the SO can not demonstrate fluency in English it invalidates a signature on an English statement.

do I detect a hint of cynicism regarding the policy of dumping funds before asking for more.

You're a brave man David. If I were to answer the question I think mop slapping would look kind.

Yup Schmaltzy (goopy, sentimental, overly emotional) is definitely allowed.

Yinghanwen works for the Brits.

I think we are getting there. Meihanwen? Hanmeihua?

Mark, Mark, Mark this is government we are talking about not profit driven private business. The purpose is to provide full employment to make the statistics on the current Administration look good. Now should there occur a short fall in rack off funds I am sure action will be taken immediately. What were you thinking of? "the government expects us to do all of the processing work for them.......Isn't this what the $385 fee is for? For them to do their job????"

great one David but our So's might think it just means British English.

Why do we stick with the word English for what is spoken here anyway. We have been independent for over 200 years, require seperate dictionaries and the English can barely understand a word we say. Maybe we need to get our Congressman involved. They are always looking for important but irrelevant issues. Amerese? United Statish? Americanese? Yankeese? and of course we must keep in mind the subdialect of Triggish

Well I guess we could compromise on Zhonglish. I'm adaptable

He hardly ever argues So give three cheers and one cheer more For the hearty member of the board Singlish I think sounds better than Chinglish and has a sound historical and linguistic base as a combined form. Chinglish sounds more like the sound of a little bell

Yes, we must think of the economy.

HOLD on a minute! Are you saying that after basic training under GUZ we must go on to the really hard stuff? On the other hand would you really want government to be efficient? Think of how high unemployment would be and how much more of your income you could keep? Too much pressure, too much pressure.

Now there guys is a quick learner. Congratulations David on passing Singlish 101

Guys change your translators. The cheap electronic translator uses literal word for word. The sophisticated up to date models give the intent. You happy, I happy Ok you probably know that in china the family name comes first. This is a similar reversal. Read this as "You may be happy as long as I am kept happy but rue the day I am not." See in Chinese there is much implied. In English we read between the lines. In Chinese especially when adding the vagueries and inaccuracy of English translation you must read between the lines. Laowai are so naive.

Perhaps someone has some personal experience with this. I deal daily with the government and from my experience they would say she did the correct thing since a request was in process and she acted quickly upon being given the decision. I would include a statement with any supporting info she has to document (visa, denial letter). Keep it short and straight just as you explained here. It should work for you by demonstrating she plays by the rules and respects law.

I concur (or is it that I am a cur) Trigg. I have had the best meaningless information from DOS. At least you get a real person who looks at the computer record before answering.

Seems obvious to me CON counsels offices ADM administrates offices RSO secures regional offices perhaps if we get rid of the offices we wont need all the other stuff and we can reduce the deficit. Of course since DOHS (Department of Homeland Security) took over this may all be secret code for our protection. If they shot the code maker then maybe no one knows.

The rule for tiping is to give service people 15 to 20% of the total bill. Rarely is less than a dollar given unless the bill is under $5.00. usually ordinary service gets 15% and better service gets 20% or a little more. Places where men drink alcohol (bars, clubs) usually tips are better and those are good places for attractive women to work as the more drunk the more men ofyen tip a pretty face. This is just fact and the reason cocktail waitress is a very good college student job. This is not me being sexist it is just facts. ask waiters and waitresses and they will tell you the opposite sex tips more. 35 years or more ago tips were 10% and usually only for good service or left by rich people. The bill was also much cheaper. Then only employees were tipped but now an owner who does service or self employed is tipped and even the government taxes income based on expected tips. Tips were given to people in jobs that were service because these were substandard pay jobs or tip only pay. Many of these jobs were filled by women and Black people who were not expected to get full pay. At that time these were poor peoples jobs without respect like porter, waitress, shoe shine, door man. Now they are looked at as good jobs because the courts ordered that employers must pay minimum wage and tips have gone up. In this city Chinese restaurants often pay Chinese workers very little by the month which violates the labor laws and they work for tips. If the place is busy this still earns more than a factory worker or shop clerk. Even fast foods (take out) which just five years ago was not a tipping job now have a cup or bowl at the register for tips because it is hard for them to keep employees without the extra. Most people today tip the waiter, manacurist, barber, cashieer thinking it a mandatory part of the bill. Usually the manacurist, barber or hairstylist is self employed so tipping is a bit rediculous but expected. You may even go to fancy restaurants where the tip is on your bill. This is used as an incentive on hiring support staff to assure better service for the wage. While once a way to assure better service when you go back (a bribe to do a good job for you), today tips are expected. In fact most people will only not leave a tip(or very small if the service was bad and they do not expect to return. Big tippers do get better service at places they go to regularly. Dictionary meaning: A tip (also known as gratuity) is a small amount of money received by some service sector professionals from persons they serve, in addition to or instead of a formally required payment. These transactions are governed by social custom. A popular etymology for tip states it is an acronym that stands for "to insure promptness". However, the Oxford English Dictionary states that it is derived from the English thieves' slang word tip, meaning "to pass from one to another". The notion of a stock tip or racing tip is from the same slang. I hope this long explanation is of interest and useful to you.