Sheldon Learns Chinese

Show me your mucus! your mucus!

Blow your own noes and go away.

This is not a tangerine bicycle.

Crazy man. Call the police.

No. Don’t call the library. Show me your mucus.

No, it’s—

What’s this?

That’s what you did.

I assumed as in a number of languages that the gesture was part of the phrase.

Well, it’s not.

How am I supposed to know that? As the teacher it’s your obligation to separate your personal idiosyncrasies from the subject matter.

You know, I’m really glad you decided to learn Mandarin.

Why?

Once you’re fluent you’ll have a billion more people to annoy instead of me.

Hey!

You just called Leonard a syphilitic donkey.

My apologies Leonard, I’m only as good as my teacher.

Why are you learning Chinese?

I believe the Szechuan Palace has been passing off orange chicken as tangerine chicken and I intend to confront them.

What’s this?

That’s what you did.

I assumed as in a number of languages that the gesture was part of the phrase.

Well, it’s not.

to assume that means to think that something is true, although you do not have definite proof.

Yup. Be right there.

I assume you don’t want wine.

Correct.

you’re not supposed to drink alcohol when operating heavy machinery.

What heavy machinery?

when you learn a new word, it can be a good idea to also check if people often say it with other words in collection or in fixed expressions.

There’s the collocation it’s seems/ is reasonable to assume (that)

which you’ll probably see being used in scientific or academic papers, or in formal speech.

It seems reasonable to assume that the book was written around 70AD.

you can also say that something is a reasonable assumption, as Howard does in this other clip from Big Bang Theory.

What? Galileo did his best work while drinking wine.

how do you know that?

Well, he was Italian.

It’s a reasonable assumption.

Dude, can you even open your mouth without spewing a cultural stereotype?

Ok, I– I’m sorry. Galileo drank diet sprite.

other common complications are somebody can safely assume that and let’s assume.

Sheldon, it’s humiliating.

Thanks to you, my colleagues are gossiping about our sex life.

What is there to gossip about?

We barely have one.

That’s why they’re doing it!

Is it safe assume you’re not speaking to me again?

If you’re not answering because you’re not speaking to me, perhaps we could come up with a signal!

That works!

I do like the one where Lois Lane falls from the helicopter and Superman catches her.

Which one was that?

One.

You realize that scene was rife with scientific inaccuracy?

No, let’s assume that they can.

Lois Lane is falling Accelerating at an initial rate of 32 feet per second per second—

we say that we assume the worst when we think that the worst possible thing has happened.

she claimed to be alone when there was obviously someone else in her apartment.

I have no choice but to assume the worst, given Leonard’s lengthy sea voyage and her famously ravenous nether regions.

I don’t think Penny would cheat on Leonard.

by the way, Sheldon’s observation here is pretty funny. He I assumed as in a number of languages that the gesture was part of the phrase.

In many languages, body language is used to communicate, with gestures of the hands or arms.

for example, Italian is famous for this, as we can see in this iconic clip in the movie Eat, Pray, Love.

He’s right. He says you can’t learn Italian like this. You don’t speak the language just with your mouth, speak it with your hands.

Oh, Like this? Gesti.

Puri Gesti.

Okay. Is yelling.

as we can see from this movie and this scene from the big bang theory, learning a language is about so much more than just what the words mean!

I assumed as in a number of languages, that the gesture was part of the phrase.

Well, it’s not. Why am I supposed to know that?

in slow, careful speech, this is pronounced as supposed to

now, in reality, we say this a lot faster.

I get it.

I just wish you included me in the decision.

We’re supposed to be partners.

We’re supposed to be a team.

Penny here says it with a great deal of reduction and linking.

I know, but this isn’t a big deal, it’s just a little savings I put aside.

We’re married.

We’re supposed to share everything.

this connection often happens when we have a D followed by a T.

supposed to

let’s see some other examples:

when I first moved to the city, I went out a couple of times with this girl.

Really hot, great kisser—

I don’t know. she seemed to think it was such a crazy idea.

Also, in this clip, Sheldon connects these three words

making it sound as if it was one word: why-uh-my

so, all together this is why am I supposed to know that.

try to mimic it!

why am I supposed to know that?

As the teacher, it’s your obligation to separate your personal idiosyncrasies from the subject matter.

as always, Sheldon likes to use formal, complex language!

Someone’s idiosyncrasies are the way they think or act.

It’s also defined as a strange or unusual habit, way of behaving, or feature that someone or something has.

Rest assured that any aspects of our sexual relationship regarding your preferences, your idiosyncrasies, your performance are still protected by the inherent confidentiality of the bedroom.

here Sheldon thought the hand gestures that Howard made were part of the language, but in reality it’s just a part of his idiosyncrasies.

subject matter are the things that are being talked or written about.

Example, let’s change the subject matter.

You know, I’m really glad you decided to learn Mandarin.

Why?

Once you’re fluent, you’ll have a billion more people to annoy instead of me.

to be glad needs to be pleased and happy about something. We say this as to be glad that

Good evening.

I’m glad that men are wearing hats again.

However, most times we admit “that”.

hold on, are you still working for the military?

I’m so glad you figured that out! It was killing me keeping it a secret!

We also say glad + an infinitive.

when we watch Star Wars, we don’t say, “we defeated the empire”. Ha, ha.

I’m glad to hear it.

Obviously, as we can see here Howard is being sarcastic and saying he’s glad that Sheldon is learning Mandarin with him.

My apologies, Leonard. I’m only as good as my teacher.

if you say something is only as good as a second thing, you mean that the second thing in some way represents the first.

so for example, if you say country’s president is only as good as the people who voted for him, you mean that the president reflects the people who voted for him.

if he is a terrible president, it is the responsibility of those who voted for him. so here, what do you think that Sheldon is saying?

his Mandarin is bad because Howard is bad teacher

he’s still working on his Mandarin and Howard is helping him

it is his own fault that his Mandarin is bad.

Right! He is insulting Howard as a teacher.

However, the lesson we can take here is that teacher can show you the path, but it is your responsibility to do the hard work to follow it.

we can see that in fact Sheldon is arrogant and not the best student

he watered down the drugs I gave him so he could double-up on the money.

My reputation is only as good as the products I sell.

Why are you learning Chinese?

I believe the Szechuan Palace has been passing off orange chicken as tangerine chicken, and I intend to confront them.

Szechuan Palace is a restaurant where Sheldon likes to eat Chinese food.

he’s angry because they’re advertising chicken as being made or cooked with tangerine when it actually is orange.

tangerines are similar to oranges, but what Sheldon is saying makes sense if you think that the business might want to use oranges instead because they’re cheaper.

However the humor here is that the two fruits taste almost the same, so it’s a bit of an absurd argument he is making.

He accuses this restaurant of passing off tangerines as oranges.

so based on what we’ve seen so far, can you guess what this phrasal or verb means?

to exchange something for another thing

to falsely represent a thing of something else

to try to lower the price of something

so the basic expression is to pass off something as another thing, meaning to make people believe a thing is something else.

Kudos on the meatballs. they’re nice and round.

Thanks.

They’re much better than those prolate spheroids you used to pass off as balls.

I believe Szechuan Palace has been passing off orange chicken as tangerine chicken, and I intend to confirm them.

If you intend to do something you plan to do it. This is the verb form of intention.

To confront here it means to talk to someone about a problem or argument.

Well, I won’t tolerate deception in my relationship. Now I have no choice but to confront her.

Don’t do that, you’ve got gold here.

Are you going to confront Penny?

Eventually, I guess.

here Sheldon is back from confronting the people at the restaurant, but he’s not so happy about how it went.

Howard, I’m going to need another Mandarin lesson. I obviously didn’t make my point with those people.

For God’s sake, if you don’t like the tangerine chicken don’t order the tangerine chicken.

I liked tangerine chicken. I’m just not getting tangerine chicken.

show me your citrus peels.

show me your citrus peels.

Show me—

Sheldon?

I’m sorry.

Howard, I’m going to need another Mandarin lesson. I obviously didn’t make my point with those people.

if you make your point, you communicate something in a very clear way so that everybody understands it.

I’m just maybe there’s a part of you deep down that just wants to relax a little, you know?

Kick back.

Say,”Whatev”.

Whatev?

I’m sorry, you’re really not gonna finish that word?

I– I’m just trying to make a point

finish the word, Amy

fine, Er.

in this clip Sheldon uses this expression differently.

to make a point to something means to make an effort to do a specific thing.

you know I make a point of never interfering in your personal affairs.

Yes, I’ve always admired that about you.

As well you should.

For God’s sake, if you don’t like the tangerine chicken don’t order the tangerine chicken.

we say this as an exclamation of anger, surpeise, or impatience.

Amy, I didn’t want it to come to this. But you have left me no choice but to employ the most passionate, seductive dance known to man.

the flamenco.

For God’s sake, you’re ridiculous.

you guys are aroused, right?

by the way, how do you think he pronounce this?

Rarely would we pronounce this fully like For God’s sake

Usually, when we have double consonants like here, we will drop one of them. so for example, as is the case here, if we have a possessive (‘s) followed by a word that begins with an S, we won’t enunciate the possessive

So instead of For God’s sake we say for God-sake

Oh. Something smells good over at Monica’s station.

Oh. This is going pretty good. Dinner was nice, we got a lot in common.

Ooh, Victoria’s Secret. Huh.

show me your citrus peels.

So Sheldon has kept training himself to confront the people at the restaurant. He demands to see the citrus peels.

Citrus is a type of fruit, like a lemon, orange or tangerine. The peel of a fruit is the hard surface that surrounds it. In other words, the skin.

No, it’s—

What’s this?

That’s what you did.

I assumed as in a number of languages that the gesture was part of the phrase.

Well, it’s not.

How am I supposed to know that? As the teacher it’s your obligation to separate your personal idiosyncrasies from the subject matter.

You know, I’m really glad you decided to learn Mandarin.

You know, I’m really glad you decided to learn Mandarin.

Why?

Once you’re fluent you’ll have a billion more people to annoy instead of me.

Hey!

You just called Leonard a syphilitic donkey.

My apologies Leonard, I’m only as good as my teacher.

Why are you learning Chinese?

I believe the Szechuan Palace has been passing off orange chicken as tangerine chicken and I intend to confront them.

Howard, I’m going to need another Mandarin lesson. I obviously didn’t make my point with those people.

For God’s sake, if you don’t like the tangerine chicken don’t order the tangerine chicken.

I liked tangerine chicken. I’m just not getting tangerine chicken.

show me your citrus peels.

show me your citrus peels.

Show me—

Sheldon?

I’m sorry.

Show me your mucus! your mucus!

Blow your own noes and go away.

This is not a tangerine bicycle.

Crazy man. Call the police.

No. Don’t call the library. Show me your mucus.

Oxen are in my bed! Many, many oxen!

Oy vey!