[General] a street vendor selling stinky tofu

[Silverobama]

Hi.

I had a long conversation with Carol this afternoon; we talked about many things. One thing I mentioned was my university life. She asked me many things about it. I attended a night school so I didn't spend much time with my classmates. But I told her one thing "There was a street vendor selling stinky tofu on my way home under an overpass".

I think that was interesting. I wonder if the sentence is natural.

 

[tedmc]

I would put "on my way home" in front of the sentence.

 

[emsr2d2]

I think that was interesting.

What does that refer to? What was interesting?

 

[Tarheel]

It's hard to imagine the vendor would sell much stinky tofu.

 

[Silverobama]

What does that refer to? What was interesting?

Maybe interesting isn't the right word. I wanted to say that the vendor selling stinky tofu makes me unable to forget it. There were many things happened when I was in university. This one was one of those which I can't forget.

Is this new sentence natural?

"On my way home there was a street vendor selling stinky tofu under an overpass".

 

[Tarheel]

Maybe "interesting" isn't the right word. I wanted to say that the vendor selling stinky tofu was unforgettable. There were many things that happened when I was in university. This one was one of those things which I can't forget.

Is this new sentence natural?

"On my way home there was a street vendor selling stinky tofu under an overpass".

Yes, that one works.

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, that's better.

[cross-posted]

 

[Tarheel]

Ems, should it be at university?

 

[Silverobama]

Ems, should it be at university?

It should be.

 

[jutfrank]

There were many things that happened when I was [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] at university.

See above.

 

[Silverobama]

Yes, that's better.

[cross-posted]

Hi Jutfrank. I'm curious to know this. When saying "That's better", do you mean the sentence is better than the original one but not natural or do you mean "it's natural". :-D

 

[jutfrank]

I meant it's natural. That's what you were asking.

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, Silverobama:

As Tarheel implied, do you actually want to use the adjective "stinky"? My dictionary says that it means "an unpleasant smell."

Is it possible that you really want to say that the tofu has a nice smell? If that is the case, then you might want to consider something like: "On my way home, I saw a street vendor selling mouth-watering tofu snacks under an overpass." ("mouth-watering" = smelling or looking delicious.)

 

[probus]

Ems, should it be at university?

In my neck of the woods, in university and at university are equally natural and about equally common. It's six of one and half a dozen of the other.

 

[probus]

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, Silverobama:

As Tarheel implied, do you actually want to use the adjective "stinky"

Stinky tofu is the generally accepted English name for:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinky_tofu

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER


Hello, Silverobama:

Thanks to Probus, I have learned that there is something called "stinky tofu."

I most respectfully suggest that you not use that term when speaking with ignorant foreigners like me. To avoid any misunderstanding, you might consider a sentence such as: "On my way home, I saw a street vendor under an overpass selling a popular tofu snack that has a very strong odor."

 

[emsr2d2]

I work somewhere where we sell a lot of tofu, both plain and fermented and I've never heard it referred to as "stinky tofu".

 

[jutfrank]

I'd never heard of stinky tofu before reading Silver's sentence but I instantly knew that it must be a thing. Perhaps this is because I sometimes use the term stinky cheese (yum!) to refer to my favourite kinds of fermented product.

It is a bit odd that a food item can smell terrible but still taste delicious, isn't it?

 

[Silverobama]

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, Silverobama:

As Tarheel implied, do you actually want to use the adjective "stinky"? My dictionary says that it means "an unpleasant smell."

Is it possible that you really want to say that the tofu has a nice smell? If that is the case, then you might want to consider something like: "On my way home, I saw a street vendor selling mouth-watering tofu snacks under an overpass." ("mouth-watering" = smelling or looking delicious.)

Sorry, TP. I forgot to explain that term. The tofu smells really really obnoxious but it tastes good. It's called Stinky Tofu here. I guess you can find this phrase on CNN Travel. Now I can't use Google, but you can. :-D

And "mouth-watering" is a good term; I learned it many years ago. Yes, basically it's mouth-watering. But if I say "mouth-watering" in that context and people who understand that, they will laugh because they know I'm joking.

Anyway, I'll write down all these sentences!

 

[Silverobama]

I'd never heard of stinky tofu before reading Silver's sentence but I instantly knew that it must be a thing. Perhaps this is because I sometimes use the term stinky cheese (yum!) to refer to my favourite kinds of fermented product.

It is a bit odd that a food item can smell terrible but still taste delicious, isn't it?

And there are two kinds of stinky tofu, Jutfrank. The one originated from Hu nan province really smells bad and tastes bad. The other one, which is from Guang dong province, is good!