Why not!

[adrianlondon]

How do you say "why not!". Note the exclamation mark. I want to respond to a question such as "why did you cycle all around the 3rd ring road?" with the rhetorical "why not!".

Is it something as simple as 为什么不要！

And yes, I did cycle around the 3rd ring road today; and no, there wasn't a real reason for doing so. Had I known before had that it was 50km a loop, I wouldn't have bothered

And while I'm asking this question, let's throw in another : How do I say "I'm not fussed" or "I've no real opinion on that".

If some asks me whether downloading films from the internet is a good thing or not, I want to reply with "couldn't give a damn, really". Something a bit more snappy than 对我没有意思 if, of course, that is correct in the first place.

[liuzhou]

为什么不 is fine.

Mrs Liuzhou says it to me all the time! It is her stock explanation for every mystery!

[trevelyan]

>> How do I say "I'm not fussed" or "I've no real opinion on that"

我无所谓

[Yang Rui]

I agree with Liuzhou but i've heard it more often with a "ne" on the end:

为什么不呢？

It's possible this sounds more rhetorical. Native speakers correct if i'm wrong.

[adrianlondon]

我无所谓 sounds perfect! Thanks. A nice stock phrase.

And 为什么不呢 looks the part, too.

I've got a few young (late teens, early 20s) Chinese guys that I sometimes chat with on MSN. I'll run these by them and see if they pass scrutiny

Unfortunately (or not), I quite like some of the youth-speak such as 挺cool的 and 比较ok啦！

[skylee]

consider "有何不可" and "我無所謂".

[Gulao]

My Chinese book last year taught 何不. however, it was from the 80's, so it may have fallen out of use.

[qingfeng]

"为什么不呢？” mentioned by several posters here is usually for oral Chinese; "有何不可” is more formal and literate.

[geek_frappa]

>> How do I say "I'm not fussed" or "I've no real opinion on that"

随便...

[Mugi]

有何不可 definitely sounds more "snappy" - 为什么不呢 looks like a direct translation of the English (in fact I would put money on it). I wonder if there are equivalent phrases of the latter in other "dialects" besides Mandarin and Cantonese (i.e. those dialects that have had less English influence).

[wannabeafreak]

Can I say 點解唔好?

[geek_frappa]

點解唔好

yes! in hong kong and southern china, you will definitely get the point across. good phrase!

[Quest]

Can I say 點解唔好?

No. You'd only say 點解唔好 when someone else said something is 唔好。

For why not? use:

唔得咩？(不行吗？）

唔畀呀？（不给【允许】吗？）belligerent

钟意啰。（喜欢呗。）

钟意ak。（我就喜欢，怎么样？）belligerent

[wannabeafreak]

No. You'd only say 點解唔好 when someone else said something is 唔好。

For why not? use:

唔得咩？(不行吗？）

唔畀呀？（不给【允许】吗？）belligerent

钟意啰。（喜欢呗。）

钟意ak。（我就喜欢，怎么样？）belligerent

What's the differences in "why not". Every person I hear on the streets say "點解唔好".

So I guess my "english" definition of "why not" was incorrect. 唔得咩 being a statement used in situations of "願意"? while "點解唔好" is used as a question to determine the reason why the person doesn't [verb]?

Would that be right? Does this "why not" reflect "冇問題"?

[Quest]

What's the question in Cantonese?

[wannabeafreak]

What's the question in Cantonese?

算數嘞. 我完全明白. 所以話你放心呀.

[Quest]

The original question was "why did you cycle all around the 3rd ring road?"

你点解要围住三环路嚟踩单车嘅？

You shouldn't use 点解唔好 in reply, because the questioner didn't say：

你唔好围住三环路嚟踩单车呀！

“点解唔好” 有少少答非所问。

Another good answer is: 有咩问题呀？

[wannabeafreak]

The original question was "why did you cycle all around the 3rd ring road?"

你点解要围住三环路嚟踩单车嘅？

You shouldn't use 点解唔好 in reply, because the questioner didn't say：

你唔好围住三环路嚟踩单车呀！

“点解唔好” 有少少答非所问。

Another good answer is: 有咩问题呀？

對唔住,我冇睇過以前發表嘅文章.