Our language

This morning, a news story about chinese weddings and how much the chinese spend. People who earn 250 dollars a month spending thousands on a wedding. The reporter said, "They have more money than they used to before."
What the reporter said was understood, but the choice of words?

How do they do it?
They must borrow.

I personally enjoy turning words around. By example, this morning I posted this


Last night I made a Lime Ricky and immediately started to feel not so good.

Although the example you gave appeared to me to be by someone who had to translate in their mind from Chinese to English - it might have just been a typo by the writer.

It was not a typo. It was a verbal report by an American female reporter.

LOL! Abe, I think Alice was asking where do they find the money (by borrowing?)

The reporter said "used to" instead of "had" -- they have more money than they had (or used to have) before. It's interesting that writers are encouraged to avoid "had" as much as possible. Of course, had is the past tense of have, and replacing it in spoken language can produce clumsy language.

Then I'd attribute it a bit of confusion! Sara Palin is good at that it seems.

Sarah Palin claims Paul Revere warned the British

she stammered while saying this:

"He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed."

SOURCE: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/06/sarah-palin-claims-paul-revere-warned-the-british-that-they-werent-gonna-be-takin-away-our-arms.html?cid=6a00d8341c630a53ef015432c0636e970c

Shelagh wrote:

LOL! Abe, I think Alice was asking where do they find the money (by borrowing?)

The reporter said "used to" instead of "had" -- they have more money than they had (or used to have) before. It's interesting that writers are encouraged to avoid "had" as much as possible. Of course, had is the past tense of have, and replacing it in spoken language can produce clumsy language.

It would have been simpler to say, "They have more money today than in the past."

As for where they get their money. I don't know. 31 Chinese couples came to Neuschwanstein, (Google it) a fairytale-type castle in Bavaria, to have their wedding. It is estimated to have cost each couple at least 10,000 Euros.

I can only guess that their economy is doing well for them to have money to spend. On the other hand, borrowing money may be the answer. When it comes to weddings, they want the best and money is not a deterrent.

Sometimes, when one tries to fix a bad sentence, it is best to start it over.

Ann

Does the bride's family pay for the wedding?

Alice, I have no idea who pays for weddings in China. What we do know is that China has lent the US Billions of dollars. They obviously have money to spend.
Here is what I found when I googled it.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_8_57/ai_87148265/