Re: "...two Moscovites conversing in English" (was Re: Yet another introduction)
| From: | Douglas Koller, Latin & French <latinfrench@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Monday, September 24, 2001, 20:10 |
|---|
>Hrrmm. I haven't heard an equivilant of *that* one here in Taiwan.
>Yanggueizi, heard it and responded with Taiwangueizi. Dabizi, heard it and
>responded with guangbizi. Others very rarely. Taiwanese don't seem to have
>the enormous vocabulary of impolite terms for Westerners that Cantonese has,
>but then Taiwan hasn't had Western colonizers since the Dutch left 300 years
>ago.
My particular favorite heard on the mainland was "wai4guo2 hou2zi"
("foreign monkey").
Charming.
I love it when the Chinese tell you that these are "terms of
endearment". I've never heard anyone belt out "dabizi" ("big nose",
for novices out there) or gwai2lo2 ("ghost dude") in any tone of
voice that I would consider "endearing". Even the banal
"wai4guo2ren2" (foreigner) or "gaijin" in Japanese can take on an
edge when you hear them six thousand times a day.
Kou
Reply