OK this resolution of a long-running problem is totally worth its own blog entry.
Ever since I've been here (and in fact, before), I've been sure I've heard Chinese people say a word or words in conversation that sounds very like a particularly familiar greeting used amoung certain ethnic minorities in the UK.
Every time I asked a Chinese speaker, they stared at me blankly (even the bilingual ones), and my attempts to get students over here to stop mid-sentence when I heard it were equally unsuccessful.
I gave up, thinking I must be paranoid. However, the first question Seigo and Jono asked on their recent visit was, sure enough, what does *that word* mean here?!
Well today after a particularly heavy meeting session hearing it many times, I finally took my problem to the internet (and this took guts!). Surprisingly enough, the very first entry resolved my problem - apparently we weren't the first to notice it.
http://eastweststation.com/blog/2007/04/30/nigger-niggernei-ge-nei-ge/
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