CHAT: _dwarf_ism (was Re: FYI re: Greenberg's Universals)

In a message dated 2000:10:04 9:07:00 AM

>Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
>
>> OC, your *average* Korean doesn't have too high an opinion of Japanese.
>> "Waeran" in "Imjin Waeran" (the Imjin War, 1592-1598) was a term for
>the
>> Japanese meaning, according to Prof. Strauss at Cornell, something like
>> "dwarf."  Ironic considering that we Koreans aren't exactly a tall folk.
, jcowan@REUTERSHEALTH.COM writes:

>Borrowed from Chinese, I suppose: "eastern dwarf (barbarian)" was a standard
>expression for Japanese persons.
    IIRC, this is a Mandarin thing. My dad informs me that the Cantonese have
been called "Rascal Dwarves" - and worse - by their generally taller,
stockier northern "tribal" neighbors. So it seems that Mandarins think
themselves head and shoulders above others...

    1/2 "Rascal Dwarf".
    czHANg