Re: NATLANG: Chinese parts of speech (or lack thereof)

Adam Walker wrote:

>--- Philippe Caquant <herodote92@...> wrote:
>
>
>>But never mind. As the Chinese mystics probably
>>never
>>said (but could have said), "La bave du crapaud
>>n'atteint pas la blanche colombe." (1)
>>
>>(1) Toad's slaver doesn't reach the snow-white dove.
>>
>>
>>
>
>So that's why we don't understand you.  You just can't
>spit far enough to reach us on our branches.
>
>Oh, and "slaver" looks very much like you just had out
>your translating dictionary.  As I told my students in
>Taiwan over and over -- never trust the things.
>English speakers (at least ones on this side of the
>pond) almost never use "slaver".  Over here it's
>slabber, which is the stuff that runs down one's face
>and drips off one's chin when one is not careful to
>swallow often enough (or has just had work done at the
>dentist and is still waiting for the lidocane to wear
>off).
>
>
In the UK, at least, that's 'slobber' or 'dribble'.  I think you may
have the latter.  But yeah, when expelled, it's spit.  And Saliva can be
used for all of them, if you want to sound pretentious.

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