Mr. approximate

[NearThere]

In Chinese, there's a phrase or term to indicate a personality trait or someone who's never precise, everything is measured in approximity. We call it "Mr. Tza-bu-duo" (meaning "close enough"). For instance: 1) What color marker do you want? He would say: grey would do, although he really needs black to color the hair. But hey, grey and black are about the same. 2) His friend repays him the loan of $500, but is short of 50 dollars. He would say: oh oh don't worry about it, that is good. For 450 is pretty close to 500 if you look at it his way, although he may have a problem at home if his wife finds out, but big deal, life is short......, is anyone getting the picture?

In English, I have heard phrases for different personality traits:

Mr. Fabulous
Mr. Insensitive
Mr. Right

But is there an equivelant to Mr. Tza-bu-duo?

[Horsa]

I have never heard any such expression but as your examples are just things people have coined and other people have copied I guess we could invent one for you. How about Mr Close-enough?

[NearThere]

Hahaha.......that's cool.

Do you guys know anyone like that? All around good guy, incredibly laid-back and unthreatening. Always see the glass of water half empty (or half full? another confusion of mine). His opinions on anything are always in the vicinity of "just about" or "close enough", and never bother to be exact. And he's someone you definitely wouldn't hire to build your cabintry.

Too bad, other than "close-enough" there's not a cute phrase or term in English for this personality type that give a clear and keen sense and feel to it. I am sure Chinese people don't have a sole ownership of people like that, it could be in any race, nation and ethnic, right?

[Horsa]

You are right we all haqve such people. Another suggestion Mr Almost

[NearThere]

Horsa,

Haha, Almost...........that's like the essence of my life. Depending how you look at it.

I'm almost a millioniare, but never have been.
I'm almost a movie star, but only have seen them on TV.
I almost went to Europe, but the gorgeous pictures on the calendars are as close as I've ever been to Europe.


My list could go on and on...............