I'm bored right now, so I'll create my own thread of Chinese tidbits, which I might add to now and then.
Please feel free to add your Canadian comparisons.
Please feel free to add your Canadian comparisons.
Little Chinese tidbits.
- Thread starter Machjo
- Start date
I have a question. I pretty much deal with e-mails where I work all day and I find that 99% of Chinese people use hotmail. Has anyone else noticed that?
I'm usually shocked when I get the odd one that has a wogers account or ahoo.
-BINGO! I rest my case, the call that interrupted me was anudder hotmail for a nice chinese lady.
I'm usually shocked when I get the odd one that has a wogers account or ahoo.
-BINGO! I rest my case, the call that interrupted me was anudder hotmail for a nice chinese lady.
So for the first one:
The best haircut I'd ever had!
Haircuts in China are not quite the same as they are in Canada, so I'll have to tell you the story of my first haircut in China. They've mostly all been the same after that, but the first one was the one which surprized me of course.
So this is a few years ago, about three months after comming to China, and my hair, well, was starting to look a little "hippyish". So I walked into a hair salon (they look pretty much the same as in Canada, except that the real estate appears a little poorer as can be expected, and there is the potential of a language barrier, especially if you didn't know how to say hello in the language just three months earlier!) and motionned with my fingers in a cutting scissor fashion to my hair to the hair stylist, and she nodded in understanding.
So I sat in the chair (just as I would in Canada) and let her do her job. First she took out the shampoo bottle, and then poored some shampoo on my head without water, while I was still sitting in the chair. I thought that was unusual, but decided just to go with the flow. Next, she started massaging my skalp for a good ten minutes. Now I'd never been much of a fan of massages before, 'cause I'd rather be, uhm, posting in internet forums, or riding a bike, or studying or whatever else, rather than sitting in a chair getting a boring massage for an hour. But then, what did I know, I'd never gotten a massage before, and have no idea still how much they'd even cost in Canada.
So anyway, I'd never realized a skalp massage could feel so good. I'm even surprised I hadn't fallen asleep considering how good it felt. And then she had to make me stand up to go to the sink to rinse my hair. That was terrible. I felt so comfortably dozy in the chair that I really didn't want to get up. Well, after the hair rinse, I went back to the chair, thinking that the hair cut was about to follow. Was I wrong! She then proceded to massage my forehead and face. At this stage I was getting worried about the cost for this haircut! But heck, I had money, so I figured, whatever the cost, I'll pay it. I was also wondering about how long this thing was goin' to last too, but I wasn't worried 'cause I had no work plans for that day anyways, so it's not like I be anywhere soon.
So in the end, the massage lasted about an hour, including the head, face, neck, arms, hands and fingers. And then it stopped. Finally the haircut in less than twenty minutes, and it was time to pay. So here I was expecting to pay maybe a hundred kuai (colloquial for RMB, or Chinese yuan) (a hundred kuai is about 20 dollars roughly) or somethin'. Man was I surprised when the total amounted to a mere fifteen kuai (About three dollars Canadian).
Needless to say, I couldn't wait for my hair to grow long after that. Now I make sure I get a hair cut at least every three months without fail. But as I'd learnt more recently about nine monnths ago, is that there are in fact hair salons that don't give the massage, and do they ever give me a deal. They charge five kuai only (about one dollar Canadian), but then that's just the basic hair wash and hair cut that's so common in Canada. But it's much faster though, just like in Canada. Here however, that's rare, with most massages being included with the haircut as a 'package deal', usually at about fifteen kuai. I have to admit though, that after awhile the massage just gets boring, so now I go to the non-massage one (Canadian habit, I suppose?) and same myself a whole ten kuai! So I'll think of a topic for teh next post.
The best haircut I'd ever had!
Haircuts in China are not quite the same as they are in Canada, so I'll have to tell you the story of my first haircut in China. They've mostly all been the same after that, but the first one was the one which surprized me of course.
So this is a few years ago, about three months after comming to China, and my hair, well, was starting to look a little "hippyish". So I walked into a hair salon (they look pretty much the same as in Canada, except that the real estate appears a little poorer as can be expected, and there is the potential of a language barrier, especially if you didn't know how to say hello in the language just three months earlier!) and motionned with my fingers in a cutting scissor fashion to my hair to the hair stylist, and she nodded in understanding.
So I sat in the chair (just as I would in Canada) and let her do her job. First she took out the shampoo bottle, and then poored some shampoo on my head without water, while I was still sitting in the chair. I thought that was unusual, but decided just to go with the flow. Next, she started massaging my skalp for a good ten minutes. Now I'd never been much of a fan of massages before, 'cause I'd rather be, uhm, posting in internet forums, or riding a bike, or studying or whatever else, rather than sitting in a chair getting a boring massage for an hour. But then, what did I know, I'd never gotten a massage before, and have no idea still how much they'd even cost in Canada.
So anyway, I'd never realized a skalp massage could feel so good. I'm even surprised I hadn't fallen asleep considering how good it felt. And then she had to make me stand up to go to the sink to rinse my hair. That was terrible. I felt so comfortably dozy in the chair that I really didn't want to get up. Well, after the hair rinse, I went back to the chair, thinking that the hair cut was about to follow. Was I wrong! She then proceded to massage my forehead and face. At this stage I was getting worried about the cost for this haircut! But heck, I had money, so I figured, whatever the cost, I'll pay it. I was also wondering about how long this thing was goin' to last too, but I wasn't worried 'cause I had no work plans for that day anyways, so it's not like I be anywhere soon.
So in the end, the massage lasted about an hour, including the head, face, neck, arms, hands and fingers. And then it stopped. Finally the haircut in less than twenty minutes, and it was time to pay. So here I was expecting to pay maybe a hundred kuai (colloquial for RMB, or Chinese yuan) (a hundred kuai is about 20 dollars roughly) or somethin'. Man was I surprised when the total amounted to a mere fifteen kuai (About three dollars Canadian).
Needless to say, I couldn't wait for my hair to grow long after that. Now I make sure I get a hair cut at least every three months without fail. But as I'd learnt more recently about nine monnths ago, is that there are in fact hair salons that don't give the massage, and do they ever give me a deal. They charge five kuai only (about one dollar Canadian), but then that's just the basic hair wash and hair cut that's so common in Canada. But it's much faster though, just like in Canada. Here however, that's rare, with most massages being included with the haircut as a 'package deal', usually at about fifteen kuai. I have to admit though, that after awhile the massage just gets boring, so now I go to the non-massage one (Canadian habit, I suppose?) and same myself a whole ten kuai! So I'll think of a topic for teh next post.
The battle over Drinks!
Then there's teh stoy in Jina a few years ago. As some might know, relaitonships are important in Chinese Culture, and the best sign of trust is to get drunk in on another's presence. Problem? I don't drink!
So here we were at a banquat, plenty of interesting platters on the table, and the waitress goin' around the table fillin' wine glasses and shooter glasses with wine alcohol 9stuff you can smell from across the talbe)! So I signal to her that I don't want any, to which she respondes by glancing at the host. He nods in her direction in indication that she ought to fill my glass. I gently remove the glss out of the way. The bottle follows chasing the glass wherever it goes. I get annoyed and so switch to a new strategy; I turn the glass upside down, as 'politely' as possible (I don't know how it's possible to turn the glass upside down without potential offence, but what to do?).
So anyway, the host gets offended, and starts shouting at me throught he interpreter, to which I explain it's religious. Then he finally nods, backs off, says we're friends, gets drunk with the others at the table, and gives a big speech about how they respect religion in China. Altogether, not a bad night with good food and drunkard s to poke fun at!
Then there's teh stoy in Jina a few years ago. As some might know, relaitonships are important in Chinese Culture, and the best sign of trust is to get drunk in on another's presence. Problem? I don't drink!
So here we were at a banquat, plenty of interesting platters on the table, and the waitress goin' around the table fillin' wine glasses and shooter glasses with wine alcohol 9stuff you can smell from across the talbe)! So I signal to her that I don't want any, to which she respondes by glancing at the host. He nods in her direction in indication that she ought to fill my glass. I gently remove the glss out of the way. The bottle follows chasing the glass wherever it goes. I get annoyed and so switch to a new strategy; I turn the glass upside down, as 'politely' as possible (I don't know how it's possible to turn the glass upside down without potential offence, but what to do?).
So anyway, the host gets offended, and starts shouting at me throught he interpreter, to which I explain it's religious. Then he finally nods, backs off, says we're friends, gets drunk with the others at the table, and gives a big speech about how they respect religion in China. Altogether, not a bad night with good food and drunkard s to poke fun at!
Re: RE: Little Chinese tidbits.
Here in China, they also have sina,.com, 163.com, xaonline.com, ah163.com, etc. etc. etc. But yes, I do come across many hotmail and Yahoo accounts too. They love chatting, and both hotmail and Yahoo have messenger, which might be part of the expanation. ICQ isn't so common, though present none-the-less, but they nearly all have QQ (a Chinese version of QQ). I've been assimilated in that respect (I have QQ too, as well as ICQ).
Jo Canadian said:
Here in China, they also have sina,.com, 163.com, xaonline.com, ah163.com, etc. etc. etc. But yes, I do come across many hotmail and Yahoo accounts too. They love chatting, and both hotmail and Yahoo have messenger, which might be part of the expanation. ICQ isn't so common, though present none-the-less, but they nearly all have QQ (a Chinese version of QQ). I've been assimilated in that respect (I have QQ too, as well as ICQ).
Those are awesome stories machjo. Really! Let me ask you this, have you seen the chinese art of xiansheng
RE: Little Chinese tidbit
Machjo, the better salons in Canada give a scalp, neck, and arm massage. And there is really no point in going to a salon that doesn't do this. It's my favourite thing about getting a hair cut and 1 of the things I hated the most about doing hair!
So...tell us some more stories. What is the weirdest (in your opinion) thing you've seen sold as food there? What do they think is the weirdest thing we have for food here?
Machjo, the better salons in Canada give a scalp, neck, and arm massage. And there is really no point in going to a salon that doesn't do this. It's my favourite thing about getting a hair cut and 1 of the things I hated the most about doing hair!
So...tell us some more stories. What is the weirdest (in your opinion) thing you've seen sold as food there? What do they think is the weirdest thing we have for food here?
:peapod said:
?: Not a clue? I'll ask around.
Oh, and by the way, I apologise for the terrible English in the post above. I must confess I'm really lazy when it comes to posting in a forum; I type at 100 KM per hour, don't proofread, and that's that. Sorry.
Re: RE: Little Chinese tidbit
Sorry, I forgot to mention back massage too. But moving on to your point, what do you mean we have that in Canada too? That means my mom always took me to the cheap ones in Canada, and so tought me to be cheap when it came to haircuts. So as a result, as an adult I always went to barber shops.
Well then thank God there are not many barber shops in China, otherwise I'd still be ignorant of this little tidbit about Canada and China. Lear something you every day.
Twila said:
Sorry, I forgot to mention back massage too. But moving on to your point, what do you mean we have that in Canada too? That means my mom always took me to the cheap ones in Canada, and so tought me to be cheap when it came to haircuts. So as a result, as an adult I always went to barber shops.
Well then thank God there are not many barber shops in China, otherwise I'd still be ignorant of this little tidbit about Canada and China. Lear something you every day.
RE: Little Chinese tidbit
Interesting stuff, Machjo. I'd like to hear about the FOOD <drools>.
Fr'instance. I've been told that ginger beef is not a traditional Chinese dish, but was invented here in good ole Canada (Calgary to be exact). Is this true?
Interesting stuff, Machjo. I'd like to hear about the FOOD <drools>.
Fr'instance. I've been told that ginger beef is not a traditional Chinese dish, but was invented here in good ole Canada (Calgary to be exact). Is this true?
Deep fried silkworm or cockroaches, anyone?
At another banquet with the same host as mentionned above (the avid drinker who took refusal to drink personally), he'd ordered deep fried silkworm and cockroaches as well. Well, seeing that he seemed to take personally any refusal to accept his kindness , I decided to forget about trying to be vegetarian for that evening (It seems I have become less vegetarian in China overall, but that's for another post) and maybe help myself to those, ehm, delicacies.
Well, lacking in confidence, I decided to take it slow and just try to psych myself up during the meal. Well, that was put abruptly to an end when I'd noticed the female guests (some beautiful ones at that) digging into these fine six-legged specimens, listening to them crunching away. Needless to say I couldn't let a women, never mind many women, beating me at such a daring feat. And add to that that the host was already tolerating my non-drinking habits. So I finally dug in.
So what do they taste like? Well, while I've never actually tasted deep fried saw dust in my life, I can take a guess as to what it might taste like. And that's about how I'd describe the flavour of deep fried insects. Pretty bland, if you ask me.
And what other food stories? Hmmm. Let' s see here...
I've had dog on the banquet table before, but have never eaten any to the best of my knowledge. I've been reassured, however, that dog is a little expensive, so if I've never had to order any expensive platter, then it probably wasn't dog. Thank God for that. In Jinan, I'd also seen live baby scorpions in the fresh food isle , squiggling vigourously in their little itsy bitsy plastic transparent containers. Now just how mouth-watering is that?
Well, I guess that's it for this thread. 'Til the next.
At another banquet with the same host as mentionned above (the avid drinker who took refusal to drink personally), he'd ordered deep fried silkworm and cockroaches as well. Well, seeing that he seemed to take personally any refusal to accept his kindness , I decided to forget about trying to be vegetarian for that evening (It seems I have become less vegetarian in China overall, but that's for another post) and maybe help myself to those, ehm, delicacies.
Well, lacking in confidence, I decided to take it slow and just try to psych myself up during the meal. Well, that was put abruptly to an end when I'd noticed the female guests (some beautiful ones at that) digging into these fine six-legged specimens, listening to them crunching away. Needless to say I couldn't let a women, never mind many women, beating me at such a daring feat. And add to that that the host was already tolerating my non-drinking habits. So I finally dug in.
So what do they taste like? Well, while I've never actually tasted deep fried saw dust in my life, I can take a guess as to what it might taste like. And that's about how I'd describe the flavour of deep fried insects. Pretty bland, if you ask me.
And what other food stories? Hmmm. Let' s see here...
I've had dog on the banquet table before, but have never eaten any to the best of my knowledge. I've been reassured, however, that dog is a little expensive, so if I've never had to order any expensive platter, then it probably wasn't dog. Thank God for that. In Jinan, I'd also seen live baby scorpions in the fresh food isle , squiggling vigourously in their little itsy bitsy plastic transparent containers. Now just how mouth-watering is that?
Well, I guess that's it for this thread. 'Til the next.
Re: RE: Little Chinese tidbit
come across any ginger beer yet in China. That doesn't mean it's not around, but would seem to suggest that if there is, it's not common. But I really don't know the answer to your question. Sorry.
Laika said:
come across any ginger beer yet in China. That doesn't mean it's not around, but would seem to suggest that if there is, it's not common. But I really don't know the answer to your question. Sorry.
RE: Little Chinese tidbit
I remember trying to cut my daughters' hair when she was little.....I couldn't reason why I'd pay somebody else to do what I was trained to do......
I learned that my daughter is unable to sit still for me. She'd wiggle around trying to tell me how she "almost" moved" and show me the "move" she almost made. Which defeats the entire "don't move' plan.
My daughter ended up with a very short.....assymentrical...bob. It was only suppose to be a trim of the ends with some layering to eliviate the weight her hair. She has the thickest blonde hair I have ever seen on a human being......
I have learned that no matter my skill my child WILL NOT sit still for me. she is incapable of sitting still for me.
She sits as still as a rock for the stylist I pay now....little brat! but there is no way I'm paying $50.00 to have her hair trimmed....
I don't know if it works this way in China but here in Canada women still get gouged for haircuts. We pay more to have the ends trimmed (easy easy. 5 minutes) then for a man to have a cut (half hour) It's stupid. and the only reason it's that way is because we women tolerate it!
I remember trying to cut my daughters' hair when she was little.....I couldn't reason why I'd pay somebody else to do what I was trained to do......
I learned that my daughter is unable to sit still for me. She'd wiggle around trying to tell me how she "almost" moved" and show me the "move" she almost made. Which defeats the entire "don't move' plan.
My daughter ended up with a very short.....assymentrical...bob. It was only suppose to be a trim of the ends with some layering to eliviate the weight her hair. She has the thickest blonde hair I have ever seen on a human being......
I have learned that no matter my skill my child WILL NOT sit still for me. she is incapable of sitting still for me.
She sits as still as a rock for the stylist I pay now....little brat! but there is no way I'm paying $50.00 to have her hair trimmed....
I don't know if it works this way in China but here in Canada women still get gouged for haircuts. We pay more to have the ends trimmed (easy easy. 5 minutes) then for a man to have a cut (half hour) It's stupid. and the only reason it's that way is because we women tolerate it!
How dare dare you speak Chinese in China!
After eight months in Jinan, I decided to visit Urumqi for a week. Now, after about eight months of not seeing many white faces, I was shocked at the number of 'tourists' crawling all over the city when I'd first arrived. Now that was suspicious, so I decided to investigate. First off, it seemed that except for downtown, you had the whites on one side of the city, and the yellows on the other. Well, Sinse downtown was the first place I came across, after getting off from a 50 hour train ride, I'd noticed whites and yellows sometimes intermixing, and so would listen into their conversations. What?!! They spoke Chinese as if they were, how can I put this, ehm, Chinese! Now what 'tourist' would go through the bother of learning Chinese to that level of fluency?
So I then decided to retire for the night, and do some more exploration the next day. That's when I'd discovered the little bit of segregation outside the city centre. Now the 'white' side was a little poorer than the yellow (understatement here), and the dress was quite diverse to say the least, especially among the women. Some wore hijab, others, the full burqa, with only the eyes showing, others, traditional Chinese, others North American jeans, and others still, European chique, or varying mixtures of these. The two funniest parts were when once I got checked out by a woman of whom I could see nothing but her eyes poking out of her all-black clothing, and the other was of a full burqa-clad woman sitting down and having another, wearing really sexy European style walking within two feet of her. Overall, the white side of downtown was most interesting with its bazars selling Persian rugs, prayer mats, and mutton kebabs, with Arab script everywhere accompanied by Chinese characters. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought I was in Istanbul, except for the overwelming presence of yellows in the city centre, and the generally typically modern communist Chinese construction design for most buildings downtown, along with the Chinese Characters in most places.
So I decided to walk out of the city centre going deeper into the white side, where I was really starting to blend in, except for the fact that, while they were babbling away in Uighur (pretty much a dialect of Tukish), I couldn't undertand a word they'd say except for the odd one of Arabic origin!
So there I was, walking through a bazar and hungry, so decided to buy some dried fruit.
I asked the woman behind the table, in Chinese, "How much is this?" pointing to the dried fruit rolls.
To which she responded, in Perfect Chinese, "Why are you speaking Chinese; can't you speak Uighur?"
Hmmm. How to repond to that? Well, I suddenly tried to immagine myself in Montreal, started apologizing, in Chinese, for speaking Chinese, only to be blasted again (thank God I knew French before I'd gone to the province of Quebec; now I can understand how some monolingual anglos might feel in Montreal!).
So why was I was I blasted again, you might ask? Because I'd used the word 'Putonghua' (lierally, Common Langauge, i.e, Mandarin Chinese), instead of the prefered 'Hanyu' (i.e., the language of the Han, or Han language, the Han being the majority ethnic group in China.
So after apologizing for the use of the wrong choice of words for describing Chinese, while still speaking chinese of course, and the woman just getting even more irate, I had to explain that I was not a local! And that I had studied chinese (using the proper local terminology this time of course) in Jinan, to which she finally accepted to use Chinese for the sell. After that experience, I couldn't help but feel as if I was back in Montreal, where I'd witnessed a good share of language scraps there too. I guess we really are all the same, aren't we?
That's it for that one. We'll see what I type next.
After eight months in Jinan, I decided to visit Urumqi for a week. Now, after about eight months of not seeing many white faces, I was shocked at the number of 'tourists' crawling all over the city when I'd first arrived. Now that was suspicious, so I decided to investigate. First off, it seemed that except for downtown, you had the whites on one side of the city, and the yellows on the other. Well, Sinse downtown was the first place I came across, after getting off from a 50 hour train ride, I'd noticed whites and yellows sometimes intermixing, and so would listen into their conversations. What?!! They spoke Chinese as if they were, how can I put this, ehm, Chinese! Now what 'tourist' would go through the bother of learning Chinese to that level of fluency?
So I then decided to retire for the night, and do some more exploration the next day. That's when I'd discovered the little bit of segregation outside the city centre. Now the 'white' side was a little poorer than the yellow (understatement here), and the dress was quite diverse to say the least, especially among the women. Some wore hijab, others, the full burqa, with only the eyes showing, others, traditional Chinese, others North American jeans, and others still, European chique, or varying mixtures of these. The two funniest parts were when once I got checked out by a woman of whom I could see nothing but her eyes poking out of her all-black clothing, and the other was of a full burqa-clad woman sitting down and having another, wearing really sexy European style walking within two feet of her. Overall, the white side of downtown was most interesting with its bazars selling Persian rugs, prayer mats, and mutton kebabs, with Arab script everywhere accompanied by Chinese characters. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought I was in Istanbul, except for the overwelming presence of yellows in the city centre, and the generally typically modern communist Chinese construction design for most buildings downtown, along with the Chinese Characters in most places.
So I decided to walk out of the city centre going deeper into the white side, where I was really starting to blend in, except for the fact that, while they were babbling away in Uighur (pretty much a dialect of Tukish), I couldn't undertand a word they'd say except for the odd one of Arabic origin!
So there I was, walking through a bazar and hungry, so decided to buy some dried fruit.
I asked the woman behind the table, in Chinese, "How much is this?" pointing to the dried fruit rolls.
To which she responded, in Perfect Chinese, "Why are you speaking Chinese; can't you speak Uighur?"
Hmmm. How to repond to that? Well, I suddenly tried to immagine myself in Montreal, started apologizing, in Chinese, for speaking Chinese, only to be blasted again (thank God I knew French before I'd gone to the province of Quebec; now I can understand how some monolingual anglos might feel in Montreal!).
So why was I was I blasted again, you might ask? Because I'd used the word 'Putonghua' (lierally, Common Langauge, i.e, Mandarin Chinese), instead of the prefered 'Hanyu' (i.e., the language of the Han, or Han language, the Han being the majority ethnic group in China.
So after apologizing for the use of the wrong choice of words for describing Chinese, while still speaking chinese of course, and the woman just getting even more irate, I had to explain that I was not a local! And that I had studied chinese (using the proper local terminology this time of course) in Jinan, to which she finally accepted to use Chinese for the sell. After that experience, I couldn't help but feel as if I was back in Montreal, where I'd witnessed a good share of language scraps there too. I guess we really are all the same, aren't we?
That's it for that one. We'll see what I type next.
Re: RE: Little Chinese tidbit
Oh, please. I really don't need to get into details here. I did what I had to do to appease the host at least a little. The other foreigners at the table were absolutely refusing to eat the stuff, but at least were willing to get sloshed for the host. I wasn't drinking, so this would be the second offense for me!
So now tha it's don,e we don't need to dwell on it any more. I still get nightmares form my time in 'Nam... uh, I meant, the banquet!
Twila said:
Oh, please. I really don't need to get into details here. I did what I had to do to appease the host at least a little. The other foreigners at the table were absolutely refusing to eat the stuff, but at least were willing to get sloshed for the host. I wasn't drinking, so this would be the second offense for me!
So now tha it's don,e we don't need to dwell on it any more. I still get nightmares form my time in 'Nam... uh, I meant, the banquet!
That'll shut'em up!
One night from my hotel room in urumqi, I'd heard maybe half a douzen teenagers outside yelling various slogans. You know the usual stuff like 'Allah is Great', and aotehr stuff. I'm guessing one of them might have been something along the lines of 'Long live Islam' and another suggestin g another name for their 'province'. Not a good a good pastime in China.
Well, this had only lasted about a minute until I'd hear one whail of a police syren. Silence was all I'd heard after that, so I can only immagine those teenagers must have taken off there and then (Can't blame them; I'd do the same!).
One night from my hotel room in urumqi, I'd heard maybe half a douzen teenagers outside yelling various slogans. You know the usual stuff like 'Allah is Great', and aotehr stuff. I'm guessing one of them might have been something along the lines of 'Long live Islam' and another suggestin g another name for their 'province'. Not a good a good pastime in China.
Well, this had only lasted about a minute until I'd hear one whail of a police syren. Silence was all I'd heard after that, so I can only immagine those teenagers must have taken off there and then (Can't blame them; I'd do the same!).
Sorry to have made you relive a terrible experience. there will be no more mention of......you know....from me.
No prob. My God, every time I reread my posts, the errors are incredible. Granted it's 1:36 am right now, so that certainly doesn't help. And then here in China I'm always using four different romanized writing systems (Pinyin, French, English and Esperanto). It's so shameful. I even spell 'the' as 'teh'. I'm embarrassed. But that particular one has more to do with fast typing.