# A question about Roman spelling of a Chinese name and the PCness of a term **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roman-spelling-of-a-chinese-name-and-the-pcness-of-a-term/286114 "2005-01-22T18:09:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roman-spelling-of-a-chinese-name-and-the-pcness-of-a-term/286114/1 "2005-01-22T18:09:45Z")
I have a question about the proper way to spell a Chinese name in Roman letters. I don’t even know if it’s a real name, but it’s for a song I’m writing. The name is pronounced _My Way_. I’m assuming it’s spelled _Mai Wei_ but I would like to verify that or have a Chinese speaking doper inform me of the ‘correct’ transliteration. Thanks! The song in question is a country song about a West Texas man who falls in love with a Chinese woman. He gets in trouble with the law and has to choose between running away with her or doing the right thing and turning himself in, to be sentenced to hard labor working on the highway. The chorus goes like this: It was Mai Wei or the highway I knew the time had come for me to choose My luscious Asian plum or working out on some desolate stretch of asphalt on the Texas plain It was Mai Wei or the highway Any way you’d look at it I’d lose. So the other question: Would _luscious Asian plum_ be considered offensive? Admittedly, it’s being sung by the protagonist, and it’s set in the early 1900’s, but I don’t want to risk being too un-PC. No sense in antagonizing listeners. ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roman-spelling-of-a-chinese-name-and-the-pcness-of-a-term/286114/2 "2005-01-22T18:32:46Z")
I’d be more worried about describing a road in Texas as a “desolate stretch of asphalt”. Those Texans can be pretty touchy. ---
**Author:** ![\_xiao\_wenti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b782af/32.png) [@\_xiao\_wenti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_xiao_wenti)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roman-spelling-of-a-chinese-name-and-the-pcness-of-a-term/286114/3 "2005-01-22T18:34:54Z")
You are on the right track with the orthography – In Pinyin, it would be Mai Wei. That being said, translating that to a meaning in Chinese necessitates information of the tone. Chinese has four tones. For instance “Mai” can mean either “buy” or “sell” depending on the tone. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roman-spelling-of-a-chinese-name-and-the-pcness-of-a-term/286114/4 "2005-01-22T19:28:25Z")
**Hyperelastic** - 😃 I figure those Texans can suck it up. There are quite a few desolate stretches of asphalt throughout Texas. **_xiao\_wenti_** - thanks for the confirmation on the orthography. Any thoughts on the PCness of the term? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roman-spelling-of-a-chinese-name-and-the-pcness-of-a-term/286114/5 "2005-01-22T19:34:38Z")
I don’t feel that it’s un-PC. I’m not a big fan of “luscious,” though. I don’t know what it is, but I always see it used as a sarcastic term. Rarely do I see someone seriously described using it. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roman-spelling-of-a-chinese-name-and-the-pcness-of-a-term/286114/6 "2005-01-22T20:02:44Z")
Oh, I agree **Speaker** - I’m trying to portray the mindset of the chracter a little bit there - a hard drinkin’, uncultured rough and tumble kind of guy who has never loved anyone, let alone someone from such an alien culture and world. The problem with songwriting is that in addition to finding the right, descriptive word, it also needs to fit the meter and have some degree of prosody as well, that is, fit the rhythmic and melodic feel when sung. I was also considering _darlin’_ (for the cowboy-esqueness), _perfect_ for the alliteration or some other, as yet unfound word. Hey, Mods, considering that the GQ has been answered here, and we’ve moved onto talking about songwriting a bit, feel free to move this to CS, or close it. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-roman-spelling-of-a-chinese-name-and-the-pcness-of-a-term/286114/7 "2005-01-22T20:21:24Z")
I like the sound of “darlin’,” so long as you think it doesn’t sound too cliched. “Perfect” doesn’t do it so much for me, but I think it’s better than luscious.