I just asked a Cantonese friend and she said gwailo can be used offensively or it can be totally neutral. She said, for instance, that she used the word when she told her parents she had a new boyfriend who was a gwailo. Obviously, it would be non-sensical to look for any negative intention there.
Words mean what the user intends them to mean, no more and no less. The word may have a negative origin but it seems to have become pretty neutral; at least in some parts of China. I suppose it is like words in English or any other language, they evolve over time and they have different connotations in different regions and countries.
>> “Hak gwai”* - “Black devil”. That’s even worse than what they called us whities
Well, again, it is the intention that counts and I have found racism against blacks is widespread and openly acceptable in Asian societies. If a word is used as a derogatory then it is derogatory. If not, then it isn’t.
Sailor, I would humbly disagree with you. Ya, there may be a few guileless people, but for society as a whole I don’t think that statement holds water. Society as a whole has gwailoh as a negative. Spend more time in Hong Kong and then let me know your opinion.
Hak gwai is a pretty nasty term no matter how you slice it in Canto/Chinese culture.
Again, go back to the root chinese “gui” (ghost or devil) always has a negative connotation in Chinese society. It is never totally neutral. A pretty nasty term actually to the somewhat older generation.
I agree that it’s negative and nobody likes it. However, you basically put up with it as it’s what everybody says. Most people don’t mean anything by it unless they call you a “dead” gwailo; getting upset about it will just make your head explode. Let’s face it, Hong Kong people are not real up on racial/ethnic/political sensitivity, you can’t expect them to warm to concepts like political correctness too quickly. I mean, look at the Izzue.com thing.
Anyone who says hak gwai pretty much goes on my Ignorant Shit list, though.
The racism I encountered in HK towards anyone not Chinese (or more fine-tuned, not from HK) was pretty blatant - I recall a pep talk (in English) from a boss before flying to Manila for a meeting with our Philippines partner company: “The Filipinos are a primitive people. They are not as sophisticated as us, so we have an instant business advantage that we can use to get more out of any contracts we sign, because they’ll be too stupid to realise we’re being tricky with them.” :rolleyes: