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.
I suppose conversely, there's the difficulty of trying to explain why berk is an innocuous insult, despite being rhyming slang for, well...
(Apologies for any typos. A fractious two-day old is sleeping on my lap.)
Posted by: Richard J | February 17, 2011 at 10:21 AM
There are similar insults in English, after all. People used to talk about someone not being the full shilling - ie not quite all there, mentally. (cf "a few sandwiches short of a picnic", etc.)
Posted by: ajay | February 17, 2011 at 11:10 AM
"A fractious two-day old is sleeping on my lap."
Hey, congratulations. I mean, assuming you didn't nick it or anything.
Posted by: jamie | February 17, 2011 at 11:24 AM
Seconded congratulations: young lady or young gentleman?
Posted by: ajay | February 17, 2011 at 12:16 PM
Congratulations! How does it manage to be fractious while asleep?
Posted by: dsquared | February 17, 2011 at 12:16 PM
Young lady, who of course, dropped off to sleep as soon as morning arrived...
Posted by: Richard J | February 17, 2011 at 12:29 PM
So are you going to call her Rowan?
Posted by: ejh | February 17, 2011 at 01:22 PM
The first few months of my kids' life is just a tired blur. First one would wake up, then I'd finally get him to sleep, then the other would wake up. And then it was time to feed them, and then, and then.
Posted by: Cian | February 17, 2011 at 01:42 PM
Congrats! Only buy anything if you can use it one-handed. Only let visitors in if they can provide evidence that they have brought food and drink for you all, and posted a bond that will be forfeit if they don't do the washing up. Them's the rules.
Posted by: Chris Williams | February 17, 2011 at 02:26 PM
People go on about raising kids as though it's some huge intellectual and emotional labour when it's basically factory work: one job after another to do. And you can't clock out till they leave home.
Posted by: jamie | February 17, 2011 at 02:40 PM
Chris's rules seem eminently sensible. I now understand what cian means; driving to and from Tesco kind of reified whatsisnames zombie thought experiment.
Posted by: Richard J | February 17, 2011 at 03:04 PM
How does it manage to be fractious while asleep?
I'm guessing you haven't got children.
Posted by: Phil | February 17, 2011 at 03:57 PM
Christ, I just realized. Richard: your daughter was born on my stepson's 25th birthday. I feel incredibly old...
Posted by: jamie | February 17, 2011 at 04:52 PM
I heard sanba in Taiwan in 1983. None of my students would tell me what it meant, though it was obviously directed atwomen and girls. I doubt the international women's day explanation.
Posted by: John Emerson | February 17, 2011 at 07:07 PM
Richard, sorry to be the one to break the news but...
1 No, afraid not, it never 'goes back to normal'.
2.Google the word 'colic' now. & just pray to how ever many gods you can think of (whether you're a believer or not) that reading the Wiki entry is your full exposure to the problem.
3. She'll smile in about six weeks. All similar reactions before that are, despite the immense effort you've put in to get such a response, merely wind.
4.Yeah, a owners manual would have been useful, wouldn't it?
Posted by: CharlieMcMenamin | February 17, 2011 at 09:05 PM
We relied on Dr Spock's Baby and Child Care whenever we needed to RTFM, and found it useful as well as reassuring. It seems to have worked.
Posted by: Ken MacLeod | February 19, 2011 at 09:58 AM
Congratulations, Richard!
John, you're right; it seems to have started in the 1920s, and the IWD thing (which is a big deal in China) is a fake etymology.
Claudia says that 290 (250 + 38 + 2 - which is "retard") is also an insult. Honestly, I'm thinking you could just shout any number in a crowded bar in China and start a fight.
Posted by: JamesP | February 19, 2011 at 01:00 PM
I remember the health visitors being a useful resource, but we were in a priority group, so might just have got lucky.
Posted by: Cian | February 19, 2011 at 08:52 PM
Living a few hundred yards from the hospital has proved remarkably useful in getting easy access to advice and reassurance.
(Strange to think that when I read the Star Fraction as a student back in the late 90s, I honestly never thought I'd one day receive child care tips from its author...)
Posted by: Richard J | February 19, 2011 at 09:24 PM
Official Star Fraction childcare tip: 'Red Fly the Banners Oh' is very effective for singing children to sleep.
Posted by: Ken MacLeod | February 20, 2011 at 10:30 AM
I used to use Jerusalem. Now it's more likely to be chumbawamba's later more melodic stuff. This can lead to disconcerting moments when they begin to pick up their own favourites. A four year old girl wandering into the kitchen belting out "Da Federarlays captured me, bound up my arms with wi-I-ire, officer came he said take your aim, steady your guns and fi-arghh!" is a bit odd til you get used to it.
Posted by: chris williams | February 20, 2011 at 02:01 PM
Mine LOVE Johnny Cash.
A four year old singing Ring of Fire is cute. A four year old singing I shot a man to watch him die at Nursery...that can cause some problems.
Posted by: Cian | February 20, 2011 at 11:20 PM
when I read the Star Fraction as a student back in the late 90s, I honestly never thought I'd one day receive child care tips from its author...
I am now remembering that as a student I read a lot of Iain Banks.
I'm sure he's a very nice guy, but like hell am I listening to his child care advice.
Posted by: ajay | February 21, 2011 at 09:32 AM