---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: Don't call me xiaojie Date: Mon, 04 Nov 2002 16:44:07 +0000 URL: http://www.straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/topstories/story/0,4386,152846,00.html?
Don't call me xiaojie TAIPEI - Please call me tongzhi or 'comrade'. Young women in China are shunning the address xiaojie or 'miss', as the term has become synonymous with bargirls and hostesses, according to a Taiwanese newspaper. Other favoured terms are dajie, which literally means 'big sister', or shifu, which is reserved for someone knowledgeable in a certain trade. But certainly not xiaojie. In northern China, mezi or 'little sister' has also become more common to displace xiaojie, the United Daily News reported. The term xiaojie was once used only for daughters of wealthy families in pre-Communist China. But it is so widely used by people in the flesh trade that it has now becomea pejorative term, the paper said. A survey at a bazaar in eastern China's Nanjing city showed that most saleswomen have refused to respond to xiaojie. It appears however that the search for a universal term for addressing Chinese women is far from over. Tongzhi may not be popular for long as the term also means 'gay' these days. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Milis Kelenteng - Quan Shui URL: http://lists.quanshui.org Posting, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
