@蓝大卫，

Here is a basic one: 吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮，不吃葡萄倒吐葡萄皮 (Chi1 pu2tao5 bu4 tu3 pu2tao5pi2, bu4 chi1 pu2tao5 dao4 tu3 pu2tao5pi2.)

--Echo

@zhouli

Thanks for jogging my memory! I think what was conveyed to me was "forty four stone lions": 四十四石狮子， sìshísì shí shīzi. I was very much a newbie at the time, so that was probably more than I could handle!

shíshī sì qián yǒu sìshísì gè shí shīzi, - there are 44 stone lions in front of Temple of Stone Lion.

sì qián shùshàng jié le sìshísì gè sè shìzi. - 44 puckery persimmons on the persimmon tree are also in front of Temple of Stone Lion.

sìshísì gè shí shīzi bù chī sìshísì gè sè shìzi. -the 44 stone lions don't eat the 44 puckery persimmons.

sìshísì gè sè shìzi dào chī sìshísì gè shí shīzi. - on the contrary, the 44 puckery persimmons will eat the 44 stone lions.

:lol:

@蓝大卫，

i think you are talking about this twister,

石狮寺前有四十四个石狮子，

寺前树上结了四十四个涩柿子，

四十四个石狮子不吃四十四个涩柿子，

四十四个涩柿子倒吃四十四个石狮子。

:lol:

I love Chinese's pragmatic approach to describing things.

A giraffe is a "long neck deer"! :lol:

Isn't there a Chinese tongue twister about lions? A friend from Taiwan told me one a very long time ago. It went something like this:

四十狮子是。。。。。

Can someone complete it?

谢谢！

@蓝大卫

Hmm I think you are right. I heard they call it 河猪(river pig) in Egypt, which I think is more suitable:smile:

@student

Sorry about that. We have a new podcast today.:wink:

it's been like three days since there has been a new lesson. You guys over at Chineseclass101 need to 加油！！！！

I studied Greek a little on my own some time back. It is a highly inflected language, much moreso than English. At one time I was able to read the one of the books in the New Testament, 1 John, in Greek. Today my Greek is very rusty.

My guess is that since hippos are found in Africa that some European living in China introduced the word to the Chinese when shown a picture.

@蓝大卫

is it? interesting indeed. i guess perhaps people from different parts of the world think alike sometimes. that's why coincidence happened when they invented words, like mama, papa, and here "river horse". by the way you know Greek? i learnt Greek three years ago but now remember nothing because no practice.