Habits can vary a lot from north to south, but the most important thing is to respect one another. Someone used the PTT bulletin board system to share an experience about how a friend took his northern girlfriend back to his home in south Taiwan for a family meal, but to his surprise, as soon as his girlfriend saw newspaper being used as a tablecloth, she complained that it was “really gross.” The couple then got into an argument over it.
The person wrote a post on PTT’s “Gossiping” board under the heading “Do northerners think that spreading newspaper to eat off is unhygienic?” He said that the previous week a friend had taken his northern girlfriend home for a meal. The man’s mother prepared a big spread of tasty food for their guest, but unexpectedly the girlfriend thought that covering the table with newspaper was unhygienic, on the grounds that it smelled of ink and no one knew whether anyone had taken the newspaper to read in the toilet. The boyfriend disagreed. He thought that spreading newspaper was very convenient because you could just drop bones on it, then wrap them up in it and throw them away after your meal instead of having to wipe the table. This difference of opinions got the young couple into a fight. The original poster was puzzled by the whole thing and asked, “Don’t northerners spread newspaper at mealtime?”
After the post appeared, it became a topic of heated debate. Most people agreed that using newspaper as a tablecloth is not very hygienic. As someone said, “When you hold a newspaper, your hands will be blackened by the ink, so it is really not a good idea.” Other comments included: “It is ugly and dirty.” “At least use leaflets. Newspaper is thin and absorbs water, and it has a funny smell.” “At least buy some blank newsprint paper to use. It’s yucky if it’s covered in ink.” “Seriously, for your health’s sake, don’t use newspaper as a tablecloth.”
Screen grab from PTT 圖片擷取自PTT
Another group of people took the view that using newspaper as a tablecloth is very convenient. Some of the comments were: “Using newspaper is ultra-convenient — What a bunch of snobs!” “Anyone can see that spreading newspaper is more convenient — If you had to wipe tables every day you would know what a drag it is.” “What’s the problem? Did anyone tell you to eat the newspaper?”
(Translated by Julian Clegg, Taipei Times)
南北習慣大不同,彼此尊重是最重要的事情。PTT一名網友分享,朋友帶北部女友回南部老家吃飯,想不到女友一看到桌上鋪著報紙卻大嫌「超噁心」,小倆口因此吵了起來。
Screen grab from PTT 圖片擷取自PTT
一名網友在PTT八卦板發表文章,「北部人覺得吃飯鋪報紙很沒衛生?」,他表示,上週朋友帶北部女友回家吃飯,男方媽媽準備了一大桌好料宴請,想不到女友卻覺得桌上鋪報紙很沒衛生,理由是有油墨味道,也不知道有沒有人帶報紙進廁所看過;男方則是認為鋪報紙很方便,骨頭可以直接丟,吃完包起來直接丟,不用擦桌子,觀念差異讓小倆口因此吵了起來。原作者則是相當好奇,「北部人都不鋪報紙吃飯的嗎?」
文章發出後,引起網友熱議,多數人認同鋪報紙確實不衛生,「拿報紙手會被油墨沾黑,真的不是很合適。」、「難看又很髒」、「至少拿宣傳單吧,報紙又薄又吸水有味道」、「至少也買白報紙來用,都是油墨真的噁心」、「認真,為了健康不要用報紙墊餐桌」。
另一派人馬則認為鋪報紙很方便,「鋪報紙超方便,一堆假掰人」、「鋪報紙明明比較方便,天天擦桌子就知道有多煩」、「還好吧?有人叫你吃報紙嗎?」。
(自由時報)
Language tip
You can say that something is “disgusting,” “revolting” or “vile,” but in informal speech you might use words like “nasty,” “yucky,” “icky” or “gross.”
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