4 ms·

In Chinese, 'eat' is usually '吃'. We use '吃了 (le)' to say we 'ate' and '在 (zài) 吃' or '吃着 (zhě)' for 'eating'. It is really interesting that in China people of

In Chinese, 'eat' is usually '吃'. We use '吃了 (le)' to say we 'ate' and '在 (zài) 吃' or '吃着 (zhě)' for 'eating'. It is really interesting that in China people often ask their friends '吃了吗? (Have you eaten?)' rather than '嗨 (Hi)' in daily life. So initially I thought this post was describing something in Chinese w/o my noticing the URL.

geomark 10y ago
Same in Thai. They ask กินข้าวหรือยัง ("Have you eaten yet?", or literally "Have you eaten rice yet?") as a greeting.
- dingaling 10y ago
  In lowland Scotland one finds 'You'll have had your tea?' which is a semi-polite way by which the enquirer informs the visitor that he'll not be given any tea ( i.e. dinner, food ). Has entered mainstream as a cliche of Scottish parsimony but does exist in the wild.
  - geomark 10y ago
    Interesting. It's sort of the opposite when Thais ask if you have eaten already because if you answer "not yet" it is common for them to offer you something.
    - dingaling 10y ago
      The Scottish response to 'not yet' is usually something like 'well it seems foolish to have ventured out in that case', obviously delivered in the local dialect. Though I have extracted one dinner from an Edinburgh man who deploys the phrase, but that was probably because his ( English ) wife had put it on to cook earlier!
- leafsleep 10y ago
  If you want literal, it's "eat rice already" - Thai does not have conjugation
  - geomark 10y ago
    Actually, if you want it literally it would be "eat rice or not yet" (กิน=eat, ข้าว=rice, หรือยัง=or not yet). Like you said, verbs are not conjugated in Thai but instead verb tenses are accomplished with helper words to indicate past, present or future. Sure is a lot more orderly than English verb conjugation with all its irregularities.
- dghughes 10y ago
  That reminds me that sometimes in my family we'll jokingly say jeet? It comew from the comedian Jeff Foxworthy who said it's redneck for "Did you eat? " I'm in Canada and not redneck I wonder if jeet is actually used in the US.
  - dsr_ 10y ago
    My father's native New-Jerseyan uses "jeet jet" for "did you eat yet". The one bit of that I consistently use is "agnishna", for "air conditioner".
    - fenomas 10y ago
      I recently found a list of these for Scottish that were amazing. E.g.: "space ghettos" (in standard American accent) becomes Scottish "Spice Girls" :D
  - throwanem 10y ago
    > I wonder if jeet is actually used in the US Not really. Foxworthy's joke isn't that that is actually a word, which it's not; it's that that is how the phrase "Did you eat?" comes out sounding in the accent of his home, which is a couple states east of mine. (Also apparently in the accent of New Jersey, which suggests to me that this particular trait may be more coastal than specifically Southern.)
jackcosgrove 10y ago
I was taught that "Chi le ma?" was an ancient greeting. In old times when food was scarcer, asking whether someone had eaten was another way of asking about someone's general situation.
rosstex 10y ago
How do you respond? "Yes"?
- sidedishes 10y ago
  Typically just a restatement: 吃了。
- hunvreus 10y ago
  Depends on the question. If the question "你好吗" ("How are you?" although literally translates to "Are you good?"), you can answer with "好" ("Good"). If you're asked "你是老外吗" ("You're a foreigner?") you can answer "是的" ("I am"). So it usually depends on the verb that was used in the question. Although you often can say "对", which is with “是的" the closest Chinese have to "Yes". In this specific case, you would likely just answer "吃了" ("I ate") or "吃了，你呢？" ("I hate, what about you?"). Keep in mind that this is more or less the equivalent to"How are you doing?" or "What's up?" in the US; it's a greeting and people aren't necessary expecting an actual answer.
  - eriknstr 10y ago
    How about if one hasn't eaten. Should one say so in reply to a stranger asking or would that be rude?
    - hunvreus 10y ago
      You'd probably say something like "还没有", "没有" or "没吃" ("Not yet", "No" or "I haven't eaten"). Again, it's just a greeting, the answer doesn't matter much (unless it's your mom asking you in which case she'll make a big deal of it, but that's a pretty international behavior).
mveety 10y ago
That greeting got me a bit when I was just starting to learn to read Chinese (I never attempted to learn to speak it). Learning something so different to the languages I know really made me appreciate the similarities between Swedish and English, let's say, and how that made learning easier.

geomark 10y ago

Same in Thai. They ask กินข้าวหรือยัง ("Have you eaten yet?", or literally "Have you eaten rice yet?") as a greeting.

dingaling 10y ago
In lowland Scotland one finds 'You'll have had your tea?' which is a semi-polite way by which the enquirer informs the visitor that he'll not be given any tea ( i.e. dinner, food ). Has entered mainstream as a cliche of Scottish parsimony but does exist in the wild.
- geomark 10y ago
  Interesting. It's sort of the opposite when Thais ask if you have eaten already because if you answer "not yet" it is common for them to offer you something.
  - dingaling 10y ago
    The Scottish response to 'not yet' is usually something like 'well it seems foolish to have ventured out in that case', obviously delivered in the local dialect. Though I have extracted one dinner from an Edinburgh man who deploys the phrase, but that was probably because his ( English ) wife had put it on to cook earlier!
leafsleep 10y ago
If you want literal, it's "eat rice already" - Thai does not have conjugation
- geomark 10y ago
  Actually, if you want it literally it would be "eat rice or not yet" (กิน=eat, ข้าว=rice, หรือยัง=or not yet). Like you said, verbs are not conjugated in Thai but instead verb tenses are accomplished with helper words to indicate past, present or future. Sure is a lot more orderly than English verb conjugation with all its irregularities.
dghughes 10y ago
That reminds me that sometimes in my family we'll jokingly say jeet? It comew from the comedian Jeff Foxworthy who said it's redneck for "Did you eat? " I'm in Canada and not redneck I wonder if jeet is actually used in the US.
- dsr_ 10y ago
  My father's native New-Jerseyan uses "jeet jet" for "did you eat yet". The one bit of that I consistently use is "agnishna", for "air conditioner".
  - fenomas 10y ago
    I recently found a list of these for Scottish that were amazing. E.g.: "space ghettos" (in standard American accent) becomes Scottish "Spice Girls" :D
- throwanem 10y ago
  > I wonder if jeet is actually used in the US Not really. Foxworthy's joke isn't that that is actually a word, which it's not; it's that that is how the phrase "Did you eat?" comes out sounding in the accent of his home, which is a couple states east of mine. (Also apparently in the accent of New Jersey, which suggests to me that this particular trait may be more coastal than specifically Southern.)

jackcosgrove 10y ago

I was taught that "Chi le ma?" was an ancient greeting. In old times when food was scarcer, asking whether someone had eaten was another way of asking about someone's general situation.

rosstex 10y ago

How do you respond? "Yes"?

sidedishes 10y ago
Typically just a restatement: 吃了。
hunvreus 10y ago
Depends on the question. If the question "你好吗" ("How are you?" although literally translates to "Are you good?"), you can answer with "好" ("Good"). If you're asked "你是老外吗" ("You're a foreigner?") you can answer "是的" ("I am"). So it usually depends on the verb that was used in the question. Although you often can say "对", which is with “是的" the closest Chinese have to "Yes". In this specific case, you would likely just answer "吃了" ("I ate") or "吃了，你呢？" ("I hate, what about you?"). Keep in mind that this is more or less the equivalent to"How are you doing?" or "What's up?" in the US; it's a greeting and people aren't necessary expecting an actual answer.
- eriknstr 10y ago
  How about if one hasn't eaten. Should one say so in reply to a stranger asking or would that be rude?
  - hunvreus 10y ago
    You'd probably say something like "还没有", "没有" or "没吃" ("Not yet", "No" or "I haven't eaten"). Again, it's just a greeting, the answer doesn't matter much (unless it's your mom asking you in which case she'll make a big deal of it, but that's a pretty international behavior).

mveety 10y ago

That greeting got me a bit when I was just starting to learn to read Chinese (I never attempted to learn to speak it). Learning something so different to the languages I know really made me appreciate the similarities between Swedish and English, let's say, and how that made learning easier.