April 16, 2009
1. Been rereading Bill Luoma's Dear Dad.2. The clown to the left is called "Uncle MacDonald" in China. He doesn't get a first name, but yet somehow gets more trustworthy because he's your "uncle" which I find kinda (rapist/pedipheliac) creepy.
3. I get May Day off, living in a communist nation as I do. This gives me a three day weekend. I'm thinking about going to Tianjin.
4. As good as it is, and it is good, Jaques Ranciere's The Future of the Image is shit subway fodder.
5. Saturdays are for playing pool.
6. At my ESL job, we show movies in the lobby (which teachers can see from the teacher office). Yesterday, we showed Gremlins. That's pretty awesome.
posted by Mr. Horton at 8:05 AM
4 Comments:
Friends from Taiwan have a two-year old who called me "aunty" in Chinese. However, with the one child policy, how long will it take for the words aunt, uncle and cousin to fall out of the language? Will they be archaic in two generations?
Taiwan & Hong Kong aren't part of the policy. Neither are the ethnic minorities (ie. Tibetans, Dai, non-Han Chanese . . . ). I think the countryside sustenance farmers also have different family size rules. So, these words'll be accurate for a good while.
Beyond the literal, sister already can mean my best girlfriend if I'm a girl. A cleaning woman is also called an "aunt". Uncle and Big Brother can be used for a male that helps you out.
It seems pretty fluid.
I didn't realize all of that. It must be so fascinating to be living there, being a resident in the midst of so much change. Keep up the great reporting and take care!
Off the subject, you missed a heck of an opening day this year.
I know a few Chinese Americans here in the Bay Area whose children still call me Uncle. They never call me Uncle Trevor though--which is a relief. Somehow including a proper name creates the same creep factor that you mentioned.
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