When making smalltalk with Taxi drivers and locals in Shenzhen one of the first questions they ask is: "Where are you from?"
In years gone by, when they found out I was from Australia, they'd respond with "Ah Kangaloo" or "Sick Lay" (Kangaroo and Sydney for the slower readers out there)
These days they get all excited and yell out " Loo Kerr Wan". It took me a while to figure out what they meant, but thanks to a friend studying in Beijing, I now know they are referring to Kevin Rudd, Australia's Mandarin speaking Prime Minster who recently made a state visit to China.
Mr Rudd must have made a big impression and I'm surprised taxi drivers in Shenzhen are right up to speed. After all, how many taxi drivers in Australia would have any clue who the president of China is?
Damp squib
5 hours ago
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1 comments:
I was getting a massage in Hong Hum from a woman from the mainland. She asked me what I did and I said I worked in the news media. Then she launched into this whole (very loud) discussion about international business, particularly on why the USD is falling when the RMB is rising, and whether she should sell all of her meager HKD savings. She kept talking about what I heard as "Lawyer So" or "So Lut-sze" (in my crappy Cantonese romanization). It took me a while to figure out she was saying So-Ro-See, as in George Soros!
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