A Brooklyn, N.Y., housing judge ruled in March that a 71-year-old retired 
Chinese immigrant had too much stuff in his federally subsidized 
apartment and that if he didn't get rid of half of it quickly, he would 
be evicted. Fei Xu, 71, had so many items crammed into his 500 square 
feet that he had only a 14-inch-wide path by which to walk from one side 
to the other. Said Xu, of his accumulation (computers, typewriters, 17 
suitcases, 13 clocks, 15 folding chairs, seven fans, two each of most 
appliances, etc.), "'Many' is such a subjective word. For me, many is not 
too much. (I) thought this was a free country." [New York Times, 4-11-02]

18 responses total.

Nai-Nai alwys tell uncle Fei, you not have too many thing, you have too 
small apartment!  Uncle Fei not get it.

Biao!  Ni-ni tell shu-shu Fei only listen half what say.
Say Bai lo sell hai.  No just bai.  Ai-ya!

uhhhh, xix, i'd ned a cite on this... frankly, i don't believe the tale.

Obviously uncle Fei has a problem.  And the problem isn't just
'rag picking' which is common among the 'chinese'.  The problem 
is the retention.  Nai-ni would have a lot in common for example
with keasan in that a lot of bicycles, child toy furniture, clothing,
and odds and ends that usually are picked up weekly by the
chicagoland streets and sanitation (garbageman) flow through our
house.  The key point is 'flow' (the choice pieces of course stay).
Stuff flows in. 'Value' is added in the form of labor - fix, clean,
paint, sewing, whatever.  Then it flows out drawn by 'cash'.
It doesn't stay any longer than necessary.  The key to the proper
behavior is 'flow'.  The real problem is not the retention, but
that uncle Fei probably has no 'kin' to moderate this behaviour
and he is substituting possessions.

Sadder still is that it ended up in court with the draconian
judgement of a magistrate.

eh?

they should chop off his head.

Re #3:  Why not?  Back when I was a building manager, we had a Section 8
        tenant who packed her apartment full of stuff.  I never went in
        there, but my successor wound up having to evict the woman because
        her stuff was creating a health and fire hazard and endangering
        the other people in the building.  I'm told the place was hellish.

        I can easily see evicting this guy under the same circumstances.
     
        Incidentally, there are psychological disorders that cause people
        to retain stuff like that -- I think obsessive-compulsives do it.

Anyway, xix *did* give a cite in #0.

Did you know "xix" is pronounced "sheesh"?  Either that, or "nineteen."

re #9: did you know that my second cousin once removed called me cheech?
and his wife ws a Delizia?  Hot sheesh, it's Cheech. (and no Chong)

This response has been erased.

And channel 56 in Boston is WLVI.

#9 - XIX could also be pronounced Chi Iota Chi

This response has been erased.

wasn't XIX a pinball game?

'xix' is not a mandarin (pinyin) word.  There are 68 different
words 'xi', among then is what, laugh, cricket and an intestinal
worm.  It is the name of a river in Hubei and the sirname of
an emperor.

maybe he laughs at his worm.

 ... or the river his worm creates ....

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss