Ditch the Parachute Pants: Part Three

This post is part of a series titled, "Ditch the Parachute Pants."  If you haven't already, you may want to begin by reading the first post in this series.


Vocabulary previously introduced:
kù 裤  - pants/trousers
wèntí 问题 - problem
tā 她 - she

Now that Helen had done her best to rid her mother of those horrible kù (裤 ) in the most humane ways tā (她) knew, with little success, tā (她) decided to up the ante a bit.  Perhaps if her mother's pink kù (裤 ) "disappeared" for a few days tā (她) would be forced to wear something else for a while, and perhaps if tā (她) got used to wearing something else, tā (她) would finally be able to part with the grotesque parachute kù (裤 ).  Helen decided tā (她) would hide the pink kù (裤 ) in her mother's linen closet.  Her mother would certainly find them come laundry day, but with any luck, by that time tā (她) would realize tā (她) could be happy without them.

Helen did feel a little guilty about her plan to deprive her mother of her favorite kù (裤 ), but tā (她) had come to think of her quest as a sort of benevolent rescue.  Besides, her mother had other kù (裤 ) to wear - kù (裤 ) that were less nauseating, and much less likely to cause small children to run in terror.  In addition to the new khaki kù (裤 ), Helen's mother also had a nice pair of black yoga kù (裤 ) (to have = yǒu 有 [pronounced like the "yo" in "yoga"].  Used to express possession.) which tā (她) wore to aerobics class and were actually rather stylish.  Helen had complemented her mother profusely each time tā (她) wore the yoga kù (裤 ), but her mother hadn't ever taken the hint - or maybe tā (她) just didn't care because tā (她) yǒu (有) such a nice pair of hot pink parachute kù (裤 ) to wear instead.  Tā (她) also yǒu (有) a pair of yellow yoga kù (裤 ) (also = yě 也 [yě is pronounced like the "ye" in "yellow"]).  Much like the pink parachute kù (裤 ), the yellow yoga kù (裤 ) were yě (也) hideous and unflattering, but Helen knew that if tā (她) was to have any measure of success in improving her mother's fashion sense, tā (她) would have to pick her battles.

Helen heard her mother pulling into the driveway.  Tā (她) tossed the ugly kù (裤 ) into the back of the linen closet, and quickly made herself comfortable on the couch doing everything tā (她) could possibly think of to make it look as though tā (她) had been sitting there lazily for hours. Tā (她) kicked her shoes off and shoved them under the couch.  Tā (她) yě (也) turned on the TV, popped open a bag of potato chips (this was for a good cause after all), and prayed that her plan would work - not only for her mother's sake, but for the sake of the kù (裤 ).  If her efforts failed this time, tā (她) was certain her only remaining option would be to make a bonfire.


Did you enjoy this post?  Then you might also enjoy Mnemonics Made Me Do It: Animal Words In Chinese Via Visual Memory Cues. Also, be sure to visit this week's word list on Memrise.com for great mnemonics to help you learn the characters for this week's vocabulary.

Ditch the Parachute Pants: Part Two

This post is part of a series titled, "Ditch the Parachute Pants."  If you haven't already, you may want to begin by reading the first post in this series.


Vocabulary previously introduced:
kù 裤  - pants/trousers

The problem (wèntí 问题) with Helen's mother's parachute kù 裤 wasn't that she (tā 她) took them home and started wearing them immediately.  Nor did Helen take issue with the fact that her mother wore those kù 裤 nearly every day without fail (though they had begun to inspire nausea and had popped up in more than one of her most unfashionable nightmares).  It was, after all, the 80's, and parachute kù 裤 were "in" and "now", as they say.  The problem (wèntí 问题) with those horrific kù 裤 came twenty years later (problem = wèntí 问题 [pronounced like twenty without the initial "t"]), after we all survived a surprisingly boring Y2K.  The wèntí 问题 was that after twenty years, Helen's mother was still wearing those hideous kù 裤. 

Now Helen knew that she (tā 她) couldn't let her mother run around looking like she (tā 她) had fallen out of a time machine, so she (tā 她) began to formulate a plan to rehabilitate her mother's wardrobe.  She (tā 她) decided that if she (tā 她) could just get her mother to realize that there were much better (and less neon) kù 裤 options to be explored, her wèntí 问题 would be solved.  First, she (tā 她) approached her mother and kindly informed her that parachute kù 裤  were no longer in style.  Helen then offered to take her mother shopping (again) so they could pick out something a bit more modern.  This approach was entirely unsuccessful, however, as Helen's mom simply laughed and commented that parachute kù 裤 would never go out of style and that Helen didn't need to take her shopping for clothes again - after all, they'd already gone once before.

Next, Helen tried going straight to the store by herself to purchase her mother a fantastic new pair of khaki kù 裤.  She (tā 她) figured if she (tā 她) could just bring her mother a great new pair of kù 裤 to try on at home, her mother might just fall in love with them.  Helen sat her mother down and told her about the fantastic and trendy new kù 裤 she (tā 她) had bought for her and then she (tā 她) held them up with a grand "ta da!" (she = tā 她; tā is pronounced "tah" - see below for additional uses of this word).  Her mother laughed once again and informed Helen that she (tā 她) was much too fashionable for such dull kù 裤.  Helen knew at that moment that if tā 她 wanted to solve her mother's kù 裤 wèntí 问题, tā 她 was going to have to pull out all the stops.


* Note: The word "tā 她" also means "her", except when "her" is possessive ("her" would then be translated "tā de" 她的).  The word "tā" also means "he" or "him", but when it means "he" or "him" it is written as the following character: 他. 

Did you enjoy this post?  Then you might also enjoy Mnemonics Made Me Do It: Animal Words In Chinese Via Visual Memory Cues. Also, be sure to visit this week's word list on Memrise.com for great mnemonics to help you learn the characters for this week's vocabulary.

Image by khym54 via Flickr is licensed via CC.