Wednesday word: 鬼佬 (gweilo)

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

鬼佬 (gweilo)

Noun:   Historically a derogatory term, gweilo is a Cantonese slang word that refers to foreigners, especially Caucasians. It literally translates into "ghost man" with gwei (鬼) meaning "ghost" or "demon" and lo (佬) meaning "man."

It rose in popularity in the early 1800s, and is still commonly used in Hong Kong, but without any real malice nowadays.

Comments

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Heh. A few years ago, I carved my Halloween pumpkin with that first character, intending the Japanese reading of oni ("demon"), but a Chinese neighbor thought I was jokingly describing myself.

---L.

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

*laugh*

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

We were amused in High School to discover this word existed, a similar one exists to describe African Americans as well = black ghost. As prettygoodword points out, the fact that "demon" and "Caucasian" are basically the same word, says a lot.

We discovered this because one student critiqued another for using the word, loudly enough that the class heard, and a discussion ensued.

[trellia-chan.livejournal.com]

It does say a lot. And it doesn't surprise me, considering the imperialist history of Britain in Hong Kong.

My (Caucasian) friend is now teaching in Hong Kong, and he learned the word from his students.

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

Well, the Chinese culture was/is unabashedly xenophobic (and superstitious), so they had a head start. Japan deliberately developed katakana for foreign words, but China's attitude was that it did not have to bend to others or make its language easier for outsiders.

I've read articles that they regret that now, and typing is a special trick in languages with kanji, but China is a prideful with a very ancient history; the leaders had no way to assume that one day those same "devils" would actually be someone they would want to work with.

Destroying the ancient knowledges of their own temples and slaughtering countless holy men (who were like living jewels of knowledge) seemed like a good idea in the name of Communism at the time. Plus, as Eddie Izzard jokes, you can pretty kill as many of your own people as you like without fear of interference.