Mind the Gap Saturday: Forums East and West

Lead me, LD!

The Chinese either like to be led, or have been led too much by "those at the top", that there's a cult underway surrounding the leader, or the LD (short for lingdao (领导) - in essence "the leader"). These could be the company boss, your faithful sweetheart (wife or girlfriend, or husband or boyfriend), or even - get this - the kids.

The abbrev LD is sometimes used tongue-in-cheek, but reminds us that in this part of the world, working late for the boss, getting into (or avoiding) wars of words with the wife (or husband), or even submitting to the kid's request for the latest-and-greatest Lego toy (as the kid, more often than not, is the only kid), is part of life.

Often, the use of the abbrev will be in a tone not unlike those seen in official government releases. This, too, shows how the "real world" out there has impacted the world of the web.

Unharmonious harmonisation

This year has been an extraordinarily un-harmonious year, if the reports about website shutdowns, Feedburner and Google blocks, and the Net Nanny of Infamy going ballistic over YouTube and flickr are to be believed.

The seven o'clock news has been going wild over how the PRC is supposed to be a "harmonious society". This policy stands in stark contrast to how CNN news bulletins start out with reports of fighting in the Middle East or how North Korea could have gone nuclear. Trouble is, while China is seemingly more and more "harmonious" offline, the online world is rife with take-down threats and dead sites.

Those online quite literally took the policy to task by inventing a new word. If you see the sinister word "harmonised" (bei he xie, 被和谐), it means that subversive content was given the inevitable electronic capital punishment that could not be avoided - at least not in this day and age. Meanwhile, "watered-down" takes on a controversial issue is deemed to have a "harmonious" point of view.

MM, Meet GG, JJ and DD

Something odd is happening with China's young lads. They seem to go absolutely nuts over pretty ladies - I have been to more than one mall seeing some drop-dead gorgeous lady holding hands with one of these men that seem to forget how a shower works (OK, I guess I overdid it here, but you pretty much get the point).

On the web, if you're a young, beautiful young lady, your male admirers will refer to you using the abbrevs MM (literally "younger sister"). If you're particularly beautiful, expect the PLMM greeting, and if you're so drop-dead gorgeous that these guys' jaws are nailed to the ground, expect to see the abbrev PPMM.

If you’re not that young (so to speak), your cue to being referred to is JJ (literally "elder sister"). And if you're a guy, you're either GG (elder brother) or DD (younger brother). They also use GG to refer to a boyfriend.