Yesterday, the gym at our complex was closed - no reason given, just a notice that "on August 14th, the facitilies will be temporarily closed". I really needed to get some exercise, as I have skipped a couple of sessions last week - so I decided to run outside yesterday afternoon.
It wasn't deathly hot - even though it was 90-95 degrees and 90% humidity - the run was on the river and there was some shade, at least. I completed 5K in about 30 minutes (29:45!!!) and walked back into the apartment complex.
I was dripping with sweat and still trying to catch my breath fully when I went into the elevator with a middle-aged Chinese woman. After saying "Ni Hao", she responded with something like:
"Pao Lao Ti"
I had no idea what she was saying, so she tried again, a bit slower:
"Pao Lao Tai" - different word on the end.
"Pao Lao Tai", she tried one more time.
I shrugged - again - and got to my floor and exited.
5 seconds later - it hit me. Hey- maybe I know some of those words! "Tai", I remember, is "too" - like too hot, too much, too cold, etc.
"Lao" - where I have heard that before? "Lao Shi" is the word for teacher....literally meaning "old leader". So "Lao" must be old, or elderly....
Hey, wait a minute...I don't like where this is going.
I looked up "Pao" on my IPhone Chinese dictionary - yup, one of the definitions for Pao means "to run"
So - she literally told me "run old too", or, with some simple rearranging, "too old to run" - I'm too old to run.
I'm going to have to learn Chinese in order to respond to insults within an hour.....
(* "Lao Ti" I think is worse; it means "old and weak". So she could be saying "I run like an old, weak man".)
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