{"id":10595,"date":"2019-11-22T12:34:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T12:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/?p=10595"},"modified":"2019-11-22T15:59:12","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T15:59:12","slug":"are-you-reliable-kao-pu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/mm\/are-you-reliable-kao-pu\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Reliable?\u9760\u8c31"},"content":{"rendered":"
"\u9760\u8c31(kào p\u01d4)"<\/strong> is a slang term commo<\/em>nly used on a daily basis by Chinese people. It literally means "to be reliable" or "to be worthy of trust" and is used to refer to a person or something that one believes to be trustworthy. Conversely, "\u4e0d\u9760\u8c31(bú kào p\u01d4)<\/strong>" means the opposite. When Xiao Li complains to Simon that his new colleague Lulu is an unreliable person, Lulu suddenly appears. <\/p>\n

             zuó ti\u0101n w\u01cen shàng w\u01d2 d\u011bng n\u01d0 dào shí di\u01cen
Xiao Li: \u6628\u5929\u665a\u4e0a\u6211\u7b49\u4f60\u523010\u70b9\u3002
<\/strong>               Last night, I waited for you until 10 pm. <\/p>\n

           duì bú q\u01d0 w\u01d2 bú shì gù yì fàng n\u01d0 g\u0113 z\u01d0 de
Lulu: \u5bf9\u4e0d\u8d77\uff0c\u6211\u4e0d\u662f\u6545\u610f\u653e\u4f60\u9e3d\u5b50\u7684\u3002<\/strong>
          Sorry, I didn’t mean to stand you up.<\/p>\n

               tài bú kào p\u01d4 le w\u01d2 yào hé n\u01d0 jué ji\u0101o
Xiao Li: \u592a\u4e0d\u9760\u8c31\u4e86\uff0c\u6211\u8981\u548c\u4f60\u7edd\u4ea4\uff01<\/strong>
             You are totally unreliable. Our relations end here!<\/p>\n

           dé le bié xi\u01ceo tí dà zuò le
Lulu: \u5f97\u4e86\uff0c\u522b\u5c0f\u9898\u5927\u505a\u4e86\u3002
<\/strong>           Come on, it is not a big deal.<\/p>\n

In the dialogue, Xiao Li is furious with his friend Lulu for being kept waiting for such a long time the previous night. Lulu apologizes and says she didn’t mean to "\u653e\u9e3d\u5b50(fàng g\u0113 z\u01d0)",<\/strong> which literally means "fly a pigeon". This phrase is used when someone is a no-show for a meeting, much like the term ‘being stood up’ in English. We can say,"\u6211\u88ab\u653e\u9e3d\u5b50\u4e86"<\/strong> (I’ve been stood up), or "\u5979\u653e\u6211\u9e3d\u5b50\u4e86" <\/strong>(She stood me up).<\/p>\n

"\u9760\u8c31(kào p\u01d4)"<\/strong> is an adjective to describe a person or a thing. If you trust a person, you can say,"\u4ed6\u662f\u4e2a\u9760\u8c31\u7684\u4eba<\/strong>" (He is a reliable person). If you think a task can be finished with a very high success rate, you can say "\u8fd9\u4e2a\u65b9\u6848\u975e\u5e38\u9760\u8c31<\/strong>" (This plan is very reliable). In the dialogue the opposite word "\u4e0d\u9760\u8c31<\/strong>" is used to describe a person as being unreliable because they did not show up for a pre-arranged meeting. <\/p>\n

The idiom "\u5c0f\u9898\u5927\u505a<\/strong>" (Literal meaning of each character: small-problem-big-do) is basically the same as the English idiom "making a mountain out of a molehill". The idiom is used to describe when someone overreacts to a trifling problem.<\/div>\n