09/23/2011

etymology of an insult

etymology of an insult

So this morning an American friend and I were negotiating with my friend's ayi to come and clean for us once a week, and worked out a figure of about 250 kuai a month as fair (about 25 quid). I offered that and she laughed and said that was fine, but could it be 260, because 250 was a swearword.  And both my friend and I were "Huh?"  Which wouldn't be strange if it was just me, but said friend has really, really good Chinese.

Anyway, I asked a couple of people and they confirmed that yes, 250 was either "crazy" or "stupid." So I assumed that it must sound like a similar phrase, but couldn't think of it, and my Chinese friends said, nope, 250 just meant stupid and they had no idea why.  My friend Baidu'd it up, and -

Apparently it comes from the custom of stringing copper cash into strings called diao in ancient china.And one diao had 1000 cash on it.So there evolved a humble term "ban diaozi,“ ”half a diao," that literary types would use self-deprecatingly.That's not considered an insult now.  But then the insult "250" emerged, because it's half a half a diao, i.e., a guy who really is stupid.

That is one hell of a complex insult.  But I can see "sanba" (3.8/bitch) sticking around for the same reasons - that one was invented fairly recently, because March 8 is Woman's Day.

BLOOD & TREASURE

Sep 23, 2011 3:22:40 PM | Language

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