Apparently the term kwailo can be used conversationally to the kwailo who siks chongman. And there is every reason to assume that it was meant casually and even affectionately. Still, I don't think I am actually quite comfortable with it. The problem is that there are so few acceptable substitutes. And none that trip easily off the tongue.
Lofan is a rarer and more strained usage.
Baakchong is never heard at all.
Kwailo sik jongman
鬼佬識中文
All of this because I interjected a comment into a conversation at the barber shop, to the great startlement of some customers.
Who had not expected that.
You know, in truth no one expects that. Caucasians usually don't get beyond the "ni hao wo ai ni" stage, which is Mandarin besides.
I was starving by the time I left, and headed straight to a place where the food is simple and home-style, and the milk tea is robust. Plate lunch special: 鹹魚茄子飯 ('haam yü ke ji faan') -- salt fish eggplant rice. Think of it as the equivalent of riso e moulinjan (melanzane ) con alici.
Very similar flavour. Jan hou mei.
Pipe smoke, rain, darkened streets, car doors, wettish sounds.
Moon over the pyramid. Smell of fatty roasting meat.
Animated girl outside bubble tea place.
Old lady parking car.
Waverly.
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3 comments:
We used to call you guys 西人 back when Hong Kong was still British coliny and the Brits were really offended by the term 鬼佬.
These days 鬼佬 seems to be the preferred term. Even among the expats.
BTW if lofan stands for 老番, it actually is the slang term for pirated software, movie or music.
Hi Fu,
Some old-fashioned types actually do use lofan, but usually one hears kwailo, probably because so many kwailo don't mind. Among kwailo who speak Cantonese, it's sort of a hip self-referent.
But, of course, it has be taken non-literally.
Sai yan sounds a bit goofy. Especially because any further West from San Francisco would put you in the Pacific. Everyone here is located in the West, and "Easterner" often means some drippy dude who relocated from New York or Vermont or where ever. You know, "those people".
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