Pejorative Slang
It has been a tradition for many years in China to address oneself colloquially using these pronouns in place of "I" to indicate contempt for the listener, to assert the superiority of oneself, or when teasing:
- 老子 (Lǎozi, not to be confused with Laozi the philosopher, written the same way): I, your dad (referring to oneself as superior)
- 爺·爷 (Yé): I, your lord. Used in parts of Northern China
- 恁爸 (Hokkien: lín-pē): I, your dad (referring to oneself as superior).
When used towards a person less well known or on formal occasions, both terms are considered to be incredibly rude, and are usually used to purposely disgrace the addressee; however, it is less of an issue when spoken among close friends, though even some friends might still be offended by their use.
Read more about this topic: Chinese Honorifics
Famous quotes containing the words pejorative and/or slang:
“And that is where
The pejorative sense of fear moves axles.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“It is a mass language only in the same sense that its baseball slang is born of baseball players. That is, it is a language which is being molded by writers to do delicate things and yet be within the grasp of superficially educated people. It is not a natural growth, much as its proletarian writers would like to think so. But compared with it at its best, English has reached the Alexandrian stage of formalism and decay.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)