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7.15: Rhymes and rhythms

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    Heads up!

    Dàtóu, dàtóu, Big-head, big-head,
    xiàyǔ, bù chóu; falls rain, not worry;
    biérén yǒu sǎn, other-people have umbrella,
    wǒ yǒu dà tóu. I have big head.


    Sheila Yong, from Boston University, made up an equally good – or better – version:

    Tūtóu, tūtóu, Bald-head, bald-head,
    dà fēng, bù chóu; big wind, not worry;
    biérén luàn fà, other-people messy hair,
    wǒ béng shūtóu! I no-need comb-head!

    On the money!

    Sānlúnchē, pǎo+de kuài, 3-wheel-vehicle, runs+DE fast,
    shàngmiàn zuò <yí> ge lǎo tàitai; top-side sits old woman;
    yào wǔ máo, gěi yí kuài, [driver] wants 5 dimes, [she] gives a dollar,
    nǐ shuō qíguài bù qíguài? you say strange or not?

     

    This page titled 7.15: Rhymes and rhythms was last modified on Sat, 01 Apr 2023 19:01:51 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Julian K. Wheatley (MIT OpenCourseWare) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.