Re: You people who can understand Chinese, pay attention to what Chinese people say when they first meet: They greet each other with" "Have you eaten today" or "Have you eaten your rice today".

Group: soc.culture.china
From: "J.Venning"
Date: Friday, August 24, 2007 9:21 PM
Subject: Re: You people who can understand Chinese, pay attention to what Chinese people say when they first meet: They greet each other with" "Have you eaten today" or "Have you eaten your rice today".

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> Apparently you know Chinese custom better than that old fool. In
> Taiwan, it's also a common greeting particularly during meal time. If
> someone comes to my house around my meal time, I will ask the person
> "Have you eaten yet?", if that person answers "not yet", the usual
> Chinese custom is "sit down, let's eat together" to show Chinese
> hospitality. Or someone from other city visits you, Chinese will
> usually ask "Have you eaten yet?" to ensure the person comes a long
> way is not hungry, if the person has not eaten yet, you should offer
> the meal, that's Chinese custom. Too bad, that old fool could not
> understand Chinese, otherwise, there are plenty of Chinese TV dramas
> playing in Chinese Cable channel in the states and you will find this
> greeting is part of dialouges. And it has nothing to do with
> starvation as that old fool has assumed.
>
I think the two of you should meet - really. You may turn up to be great
pals. I met several of the posters in my music newsgroup in person, and
wouldn't you know it, some of the most obnoxious in that newsgroup turned
out to be the most gentle, polite, highly educated, and generous people you
would meet anywhere - they simply wanted to play out their alter ego in
cyber space.
J.