Tried Pu-er - didn't like it much

Sasha,

I think what he was referring to (correct me if I'm wrong Rick) is that many people who learn English as a second language are much better at it than native speakers and writers seem to be these days. Some of it, undoubtably, has to do with the fact that people learning English as a second language actually have to study the grammer, syntax, and sentence structure, whereas not many native speakers even bother to take English classes beyond the basics in college anymore...much less major in it.

As far as the horse piss smell...I really would rather not think about that when I'm drinking any kind of tea! :P :) Some of the metaphors for various tastes are worse that the tastes themselves, lol. That is NOT, however, the case for durien which I had the (mis)fortune of trying for the first time last week. Some paraphrased quote I read on the net says something like "Its like eating a fine custard in a sewer". My advice: If you're trying it, don't open it inside the house. And for heaven's sake don't defrost frozen in the microwave...:/

I'd much much rather drink a cheap pu-er. And due to my clamoring for tea for Christmas, I will be drinking pretty good puers here pretty soon. It's going to be difficult if the package comes to the door...I will be hard pressed not to open it. :)

Melinda

snip

snip pre-above snip.

Oh, I fully support that assertion. But, in my opinion, higher quality stuff just tastes less horrid. This was, after all a thread started by someone who wondered if she was alone in *not* linking pu erh. She's not.

I also can't stand the taste of eggplant. But that doesn't mean that my wife stops trying to feed it to me because she likes it.

Now I know your senses are screwy. ;)

Lucky you. The smell of stables where thoroughbred breeding mares have been housed is quite the opposite. Especially when you're still tasting it 3 hours AFTER getting home from work.

I think you've got your interpretation polarizers in backwards, Sasha.

Rick's comment, to me, reads like he's unsure of the grammar himself and trusts non-native English speakers to know it better than those of us who grew up "in" the language and take it for granted.

After all, we is the peoples who screws up the languages.

You know there's more than one kind of eggplant, too, right? By the way, in my opinion, eggplant, unlike most vegetables, is nearly inedible unless cooked until it's mushy. I hope your wife's got that covered.

/Lew

Derek wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@gwinn.us:

Didn't the USan Founding Fathers write that down somewhere?

You call it a bowl? I wasn't sure how to describe it. It is sort of hollow, with a hole on one side. Maybe best approximation is 'bell' shaped, but that isn't to satisfactory, too ^-^

looks about the same...

I think we're talking about the same thing. Thanks everybody!

ciao Patricl

"bad Puerh" is redundant. ;)

Yes, I'm aware that there's more than one kind. I've tried many, liked none.

The point being, not everybody is going to like the same things.

I think it's in one of the amendments.

Alex Chaihorsky wrote: ...snip

The disclaimer at the beginning almost ruins the suspenseful element of this story... :)

might I add this thread must be entirely confusing the the original poster... :)

Perhaps an executive summary of the points is in order: i.e.

1) Puerhs have a wide variety of flavors. Disliking one does not imply disliking them all. 2) Some people hate Puerh. 3) Some people love Puerh. 4) Tasting multiple Puerhs can be expensive, especially since the good ones are sold in relatively large quantities. But if one is interested, seeking out samples of some good Puerhs is possible.

Steve Hay wrote:

however, the

Heh, heh. I had a political science professor in college who liked to introduce his students to foreign foods to broaden our horizons. He tried to get balut (sp?) for us - it's a partially gestated duck egg that you soft cook. It's a Philappino delicacy. He usually hardboiled it, sliced it and served it on crackers to the students. He couldn't get any that was fresh enough to suit him, so he settled on durien candy, which he told us that the fruit tasted sweet but smelled bad. We had hard candies and wafer cookies with durien cream in the centers. It was yummy (tasted vaguely like honey), but I burped the smell of durien for hours afterward, and I know that others did as well. It was AWFUL.

Cathy Weeks

Oh, no... he was suggesting that non-native English speakers know the rules of English far better than native speakers, and in general, that is true. That doesn't mean that non-native speakers actually speak better English (although that is true on occasion, as well), but in general they know the rules better. In other words, we know when something *is* right, but not *why* it is right.

I have a Bachelor's degree in English writing and Literature, and Master's degree in English Education (I'm trained to be an English teacher), and do you know how many grammar classes I took at the University? One. And 10 years later, my knowledge of English grammar is still very native (ie., I *usually* know when something is right, but not why). I'm more knowledgeable than most people, but that's really not saying much.

Now, I believe I just opened myself up to scrutiny, and I'm sure the above passage is full of mistakes. Sigh...

Cathy Weeks

Having grown up without a barn, my first introduction to this particular organoleptic distinction was in our seventh-grade production of "Midsummer Night's Dream." Bottom has the relevant line: "I do smell all horse-piss, at which my nose is in great indignation." May we suppose that some wag slipped a Pu-erh into the Bard's tea-caddy?

-DM

Depends on nationality, I think. The Europeans have a good handle on the rules and everything, but I still think that a native speaker can speak better than a non-native speaker. There are so many nuances that you just don't get in a classroom setting or in books.

Ya, I got an English Lit degree with honors. I wrote a million papers, and I think I got a pretty good handle on the rules and so forth. I took many grammar/lingusitics classes. I taught a year in China doing ESL and EFL.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Nah, but I have a question...

In the course of a discussion, I came across a phrase like the following:

... according to Ensign Pulver...

Now, someone responded while quoting just "Ensign Pulver" and making it plural. That is, "Ensign Pulver"s.

This does not look correct to me. So, what is the proper way to make a singular quotation into a plural?

Heh. You're the one who admitted to the English education. ;)

Using the apostrophe doesn't make it plural, it denotes possession. The pluralized form of it would be Ensign Pulvers', but I don't think you can pluralize a person. heh.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

I thought the plural would be 'Ensigns Pulver'. No?

I never liked eggnog till this season. I've been drinking it like a fish. I really like the Southern Comfort Traditional sold at Walmart. It specifically says 'non alcoholic'. Interesting how brand names keep selling themselves in non traditional retail.

Jim

Ian Rastall wrote:

Lewis Perinpc7hdmxr8k4.fsf_- snipped-for-privacy@panix1.panix.com12/7/04 18: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

Eggplant is delicious. I love eggplant. You can leach out the tanins with salt. What's wrong with you people. Derek, eggplant everyday until you change your mind. Reminds me of fresh meadow grasses. (Your eggplants need to be grown on the steppes in proximity of fine Siberian horses.

I'm nursing a horrendous cold with Guangxi green tea today. Ugh.

Michael