--- title: Friendly teasing — when it's fun and when it stings — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Friendly teasing — when it's fun and when it stings», a lesson of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Lín trips over the football and his mate grins "bèndàn!" — "BUN-DAHN", literally "stupid egg" — and Lín grins b --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Chinese street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/) / Friendly teasing — when it's fun and w… # Friendly teasing — when it's fun and when it stings Lesson 23 of the chinese street course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/0/) — Lín trips over the football and his mate grins "bèndàn!" — "BUN-DAHN", literally "stupid egg" — and Lín grins back "nǐ cái shì bèndàn!", you're the dummy!: that is teasing between friends, and both of them are laughing. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/2/) — The same word can be a cuddle or a punch: who says it, to whom, and with what face decides; shǎguā from Mum to a toddler is almost a hug, xiǎo pàngzi from a granny to a baby is praise, but from one kid to another about their body it hurts. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/3/) — Some teasing is never fair: calling a crying friend a crybaby, a poor friend a meanie, or someone who reports real danger a tattletale. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/4/) — "xiào sǐ wǒ le" — "laughing me to death" — is the Chinese LOL; but laughing at a friend who is really hurt is not funny in any language. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/5/) — "bèndàn" means silly or dummy, literally "stupid egg"; the cheeky answer is "nǐ cái shì bèndàn!", and it is rude to a struggling younger child or to an adult. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/6/) — "shǎguā" means silly-billy, literally "silly melon"; said with a smile, by parents to small kids or friends to friends, it is almost cuddly, while "shǎ" alone can be harsher. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/7/) — "dǎnxiǎoguǐ" means scaredy-cat, literally "small-gall ghost"; the answer is "wǒ cái bú pà!", but daring someone with it can push them into something dangerous. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/8/) — "xiǎoqìguǐ" means meanie, someone stingy who won't share; it is unfair if their family has little money. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/9/) — "lǎnchóng" means lazybones, literally "lazy worm", and parents use it fondly on Sunday mornings. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/10/) — "àikūguǐ" means crybaby, literally "loves-crying ghost"; it stings, because a friend who cries needs help, not a name. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/11/) — "chòuměi" means vain, a show-off about looks; chòu (smelly) appears in many teasing words meaning "too pleased with yourself". - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/12/) — "gàozhuàngjīng" means tattletale; telling a grown-up about real danger or bullying is right, whatever anyone calls you. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/13/) — "xiǎo pàngzi" means chubby, "little fatty"; from a granny to a toddler it is praise, but from a kid to a kid it hurts, because body teasing is not friendly. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/14/) — "xiǎopéngyǒu" means little kid, literally "little friend"; from a teacher it is sweet, but from a big kid "nǐ shì xiǎopéngyǒu!" means "you're too little to play". - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/15/) — "xiǎo pìhái" means brat or little pest; adults say it about naughty children and it is a bit rude. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/23-friendly-teasing/16/) — "xiào sǐ wǒ le" means "that's hilarious", literally "laughing me to death", after a joke or a funny video. - ← previous: [Days of the week, the clock, birthdays](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/22-days-the-clock-and-birthdays/) - next →: [Words that hurt — what they mean, never to be said](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/24-words-that-hurt/) - ↑ back to [Chinese street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chinese-street/)