No way… That’s tragic and not a little unsettling.[/quote]Yes… I know I give the impression of an erudite man of culture but the simple stuff tickles me sometimes.
Well… they say that incongruity is the basis of humour.
When you’re recording a an answer to a prompt on an American English fluency exam, it’s likely than an American will score it. This is a good time to keep your negative feelings about Americans to yourself.
So the ‘death to America!’ guy bombed his TOEFL?
Advice. Hmm.
Has anyone in the history of anything actually sincerely solicited advice, in the accepted sense of the word? Other than asking for physical help?
I don’t think I have.
I mean, at the end of the day, none of us know anything more than anyone else. Information is googled. Everything else has to be discovered alone, no?
Sleep with dogs, lie with fleas.
[quote=“Buttercup”]Advice. Hmm.
Has anyone in the history of anything actually sincerely solicited advice, in the accepted sense of the word? Other than asking for physical help?
I don’t think I have.
I mean, at the end of the day, none of us know anything more than anyone else. Information is googled. Everything else has to be discovered alone, no?[/quote]
If you have trusted advisers that have already lived through similar experiences (and made the tough decisions), then their guidance can be most helpful.
I do agree that discovering things alone is a great way to learn, learning, but if someone else has found a shortcut…
:cluck: Then do the funky chicken.
No. Some of us have particular areas of expertise. Some of us wrote that info that you’re Googling. 
“You must learn how to urinate at night without waking them all up. The way to do it is to urinate against the side of the bucket, not into the middle.” - from The Last Emperor.
Sound words of advice.
Now that blows my argument out of the water. Pun intended, though not particularly good. Now THAT kind of advice y’can take t’the bank.
Dragonbones, information is not new. That’s not to say acquiring it is pointless. or maybe it is? To analogise; I buy a Chinese dictionary and grammar; I have the information. But nobody can learn how to best apply that information, rules, etc, but me. You could say ‘focus on correct stroke order’ or, ‘practise your tones with a native speaker’, but apart from superficial advice, it’s my journey. I think that’s true for most things.
‘The Internet’ is so full of junk, that the possibility of useful or original content on forumosa or the majority of other sites is so infinitesimal that my brain is boggling away like an acorn in a blender. While I don’t doubt that many of us spooge forth large volumes of wallpaper paste-like infotainment, the chances of it being any more than filler are minimal. I like this article: kungfugrippe.com/post/48588149/better
Online publishing… I know ‘stuff’ about my field. I’m not allowed to publish it for free online. People buy and sell real information. Not always, of course; intellectual charity exists, but usary is the predominant model of our times.
I see a lot of “flag ads” around Taipei . . .
“Paul Pott’s in Concert on 10/16”
My advice:
If your last name is Hitler, don’t name your kids anything close to Adolph.
If your surname is Stalin, don’t name your boy Joseph or Joe or even Joey.
and
If your family name is Maus, don’t name your daughter Michelle. ( I know one)
Sincerely, Z. Bender
[quote=“Stray Dog”]Sometimes you’ll see a little sign on top of the urinal that says ‘No touching needed’.
This is FALSE. DO NOT BELIEVE IT; I obeyed the sign and ended up wetting the inside of my trousers down the entire leg![/quote]Your entire leg? Don’t exaggerate, it was only from the knee down.
Don’t do it. You have too much to live for.
Don’t eat wooden nickels. Conversely, don’t take any yellow snow.
TASER International, Inc.
buy
If you take those green Taiwan lemons and leave them in your refrigerator for about a month, they turn yellow.
If you hear your upper intestines make odd gurgling sounds at 4 a.m. , and you feel like you want to fart at 9 a.m., sit on a toilet first.
Don’t vote and say you did.
When you hear the garbage truck, wait five minutes then go out, but if you live in a high rise, go early, walk one block ahead of your building’s spot, and dump your garbage at that stop. That way, you not only miss going down the elevator with a bunch of people toting stinky garbage, you get to go up the elevator (that they just took down) alone. Hey, it’s OK. Buy me a beer sometime and we’ll call it even.
Bullshit. I’m an American and I think we’re a bunch of fucking assholes. If I’m scoring you’re exam, I’ll give you extra credit for having the fucking balls to say what you actually think of us!
If you’re new in town and from South Africa: If you hear the garbage truck jingle don’t bother running downstairs with a fist full of money hoping to buy a nice “soft serve” ice-cream cone. You’re going to be bitterly disappointed if you do…
Note: Unfortunately you’ll only realise it’s a garbage truck jingle and not a mobile ice-cream van once you get downstairs only to be confronted by a stinking truck and the confused stares of your new neighbours…
Don’t try to start an ice cream truck business in Taiwan. People will only want to bring you garbage.
[quote=“babaroomba”]
Bullshit. I’m an American…[/quote]
And I’d be highly, highly suprised if you graded for ETS…
It doesn’t take balls to say what you like, does it? For me, it takes more to keep my mouth shut and be gracious, accepting and understanding of others’ weaknesses.