Prolly something to do with the strongly held Taiwanese belief that its better out than in.
HG
DM=direct mailing (fliers)
OS=off stage (narration)
CF=commercial film
and, of course,
NG=no good
[color=red]NEW OPEN!!![/color]
I think it’s more of an “and” than a “with” – but either way it’s wrong.
The most egregious use of “vs” I can recall is from about four years ago. Taiwan was celebrating its relations with countries in Central America. Part of this involved putting up banners on light poles along streets. The largest text on these read “Taiwan vs Central America.”
I thought this was going to be a discussion about OGS, OBS, SPP, LKK, PMP and so forth.
Well, PK means something pretty nasty in Cantonese. PK = Pok Gai
No Q
[quote=“Incubus”]
NG=no good[/quote]
funny, always wondered about that one.
“ex.” for “for example” (instead of e.g.)
“morning call” in hotels (instead of “wake-up call”)
'r for Mr. (placed after the name)
's for Ms. (placed after the name)
PK is a gamer term that stands for “Player Kill”. It’s been imported into Mandarin as meaning “to attack” or “to attack each other” and has now been expanded to mean “to challenge to a duel”.
Don’t use this term with Cantonese speakers as Elegua pointed out. Otherwise, you may very well be PK’d.
The use of ‘vs’ as with rather than versus, comes from the international DJ scene. DJs used to always billboard dance parties as this DJ vs that (overseas, not just here in Taiwan) and although the original idea might have been some tests of their skills against each other, it just became ‘with’. That moved to the Tawian DJ scene and then to the wider scene.
Brian
[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“Incubus”]
NG=no good[/quote]
funny, always wondered about that one.[/quote]
I’m under the impression that it’s from the film industry, and is said after a bad take. Is this right?
[quote=“Dragonbones”][quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“Incubus”]
NG=no good[/quote]
funny, always wondered about that one.[/quote]
I’m under the impression that it’s from the film industry, and is said after a bad take. Is this right?[/quote]
Not sure, but I’ve heard it a lot in Japan.
Actually, this usage of vs is becoming common on youtube.
[quote]
I’ve seen other examples of English words with special Taiwanese usage that I have no inkling of. PK for instance. What the hell does that mean. It usually shows up not in sentence form, but on TV news shows when one politician is being compared or contrasted or is in opposition with another politician. I’ve asked several Taiwanese what it means, and no one has a clue, which isn’t a surprise to me, but I’m curious. Does anyone know?[/quote]
Doesn’t it mean Player Kill?
Edit…someone already mentioned that.
soho=small office home office 
DIY to refer to self-service instead of home repairs done by oneself.
Many coffee ships have “DIY areas” where you are supposed to return your tray.
Nothing Taiwanese about that.
[quote=“Mawvellous”]DIY to refer to self-service instead of home repairs done by oneself.
Many coffee ships have “DIY areas” where you are supposed to return your tray.[/quote]
DIY to refer to ahem self-service.
How about “Q” to mean chewy, where did that come from?
And the incessant use of “high” , as in dajia high qilai!
[quote=“Mawvellous”]How about “Q” to mean chewy, where did that come from?[/quote]I’m told that it sounds the same as a Taiwanese word that means “chewy”.
Or QQ…crybaby.
Because the Qs look like two teared up eyes.
This usage has now penetrated international gaming culture (or at least my WOW server), as in “Less QQ more pew pew” (Less crying more fighting).
1 Like