New Members Dru Posted December 26, 2014 at 06:50 AM New Members Report Share Posted December 26, 2014 at 06:50 AM At work I overheard my manager tell his assistant, "Tai ji shuo" -- unfortunately my ear for Mandarin tones is still too weak to identify the tones here. He made a slicing motion at his neck directly after saying this. What was he most likely saying? For more context, I think he said "No show.." in English right before. However he may have been speaking mandarin here as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members Dru Posted December 28, 2014 at 02:16 AM Author New Members Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 at 02:16 AM Before posting, I did search for possible meanings. Might this mean, "Too much talking! [cut it out!]" ? Or maybe this makes more sense if he said "Ta1 ji3 shuo1"? He ... talks [much]? Any ideas anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demonic_Duck Posted December 28, 2014 at 05:28 AM Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 at 05:28 AM Is it possible he could have been saying “太棘手” tài jíshǒu? “棘手”: intractable; difficult to solve or deal with. “打太极拳” dǎ tàijí quán can figuratively mean to shirk responsibility or offer excuses not to do something, but I've never heard of “太极说” tàijí shuō being used as a phrase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semantic nuance Posted December 28, 2014 at 07:29 AM Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 at 07:29 AM Or could it be " 太機車 tai4 ji1 che1" meaning someone is really a pain in the neck / ass? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demonic_Duck Posted December 28, 2014 at 08:01 AM Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 at 08:01 AM Also a possibility, though AFAIK that's only really used by Taiwanese folks. Depends where the manager is from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Members Dru Posted December 30, 2014 at 06:49 PM Author New Members Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 at 06:49 PM Thanks for the responses. The speaker is in fact Taiwanese, so he may have been saying " 太機車 tai4 ji1 che1". But it sounded more like, “太棘手” tài jíshǒu, too intractable, or hard to deal with. I believe the mystery is solved. Time to tattoo this on my arm to impress the ladies. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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