“Thatz” With Attitude

The story below reminded me of something else I’ve been meaning to blog about.  The Chinese word for “that” is “niga,” and it’s pronounced exactly how it’s written:  just like “nigga.” Think about how many times you use the word “that” in a day, it’s got to be hundreds.  All day you hear people saying the word “niga.”

But it gets better.  The word is also used in the same context as “ummm” or “errr” would be in English, as a way of pausing a sentence while you think of what to say next.  Take this English sentence as an example.

“Umm, I don’t know.  Ummm, let me think for a minute.  Errrr, shit, I can’t remember his name!”

In Chinese this would sound something like this.

“Niga niga niga… blah blah blah. Niga niga niga… blah blah.  Niga niga, blah blah blah.”

One of the guys I work with is black.  He pointed this out to me.  Honestly, I never would have made the connection.  It’s damn funny, though.  Maybe it’s why Chinese youth like rap so much, they keep hearing a word they understand.

Update: Lest anyone think I’m making this up…

ummm, please

Is there a black running around saying “no! stop! that’s OUR word!”

I don’t know, but I think Al Sharpton filed a lawsuit against the language.

Glorious.

So the next time that pops out of my mouth I can just say I’m Chinese, right?

Hah… classic.  Great video clip too btw.

Been dealing with language issues myself lately.. trying to troubleshoot shitty software[*] (that we pay millions for.. go figure) and sometimes the meetings, especially when on a conf call and they’re using a speakerphone, it’s hard to understand what they’re saying.  Lots of Indian guys with seriously thick accents.

[*]Does stupid things I proved today with a strace like it’ll open a file.. then unlink it… THEN write to the fd!  And NEVER call close() on the fd so they’re all invisible files (or .nfs files on NFS) that exist until the process exits.  So glad we pay a premium for that quality.