"China"

[Art Blade]

Sometimes mercs use expressions like the one quoted below:

You just keep walking around in circles, China

That "China" kept me wondering from the first day on after I heard it in the game, why the heck someone keeps getting called that without any obvious hints of being Chinese. I'm sure native speakers are acquainted with it, but for strangers to the language like myself, it is not exactly comprehensible without background information. Today I had a lucky moment when I was reading about the English language, and it came to British English, to local dialects, to London's East End and cockney, down to rhyming slang. And there it was, the explanation:

"China" is a shortening of rhyming slang "china plate" which rhymes with "mate"... so all they say is

"You just keep walking around in circles, mate."

LOL, I love this language  ;D

[JRD]

Is that so?

I was intrigued by this "china" expression too... good find, china!  :-X

[Art Blade]

good find, china!  :-X

cheers, china ;D

[eor123]

Also wondered about that.

A similar, if not the same, explanation show up in a Wiki listing of South African slang.

china/chine - a friend; as in the greeting howzit china (likely origin: Cockney rhyming slang "China plate" (meaning "my mate"); from early British immigrants.

This from a S.A. slang page on RSA-overseas.com:

China: A friend, buddy, mate. Very popular term, mostly in Cape Town area and Durban. Can also be used aggressively, as in: "Are you tuning me kak, China? - are you giving me s#!t,mate?".

Also saw this in a list of words from other languages:

chana - my mate (from Zulu, 'my nephew'); umshana

I think I hear the word "umshana" quite a bit in the game.

indaba - conference (from Zulu, 'a matter for discussion'); has become a mainstream word in South African English

I also believe I've heard "indaba."

[Art Blade]

very interesting, thanks for those examples, Eeyore :) And I'm glad we can discuss stuff like that here so nicely. Always great to see how people add useful stuff or nice comments  :-X

I find "chana" rather interesting, how similar it looks and presumably sounds.

[PZ]

Indeed, the in-depth knowledge (and talent) of our members is impressive.

[fragger]

Funny that Art brought this up, as I was wondering just the other night whether or not any non-British or Australian players understood what was meant by "china". I always sort of took it for granted.

Rhyming slang is pretty popular in Oz too, but mostly among older Aussies (like me). Naturally it has the potential to confuse visitors. I'm sure that if I said to any of you, "I got elephants last night and now I feel a bit butchers", you'd think I was talking nonsense. But it would translate thusly:

"Elephants" - short for "elephant's trunk" = drunk.
"Butchers" - short for "butcher's hook" = crook (in turn, Aussie slang for "sick").

So what I'd be saying is that I got drunk last night and now I feel a bit sick.

Some others:

"Soldiers bold" = cold.
"Warwick Farms" = arms (after a suburb of Sydney).
"Trouble and strife" = wife.
"Dog and bone" = phone.

There's many others, some get shortened to one word, like "china", some don't, such as "dog and bone". So we'd say, "Could you answer the dog and bone please, china", or "The trouble and strife reckons it's too soldiers outside to go swimming".

No wonder some people think we're weird ;D

[Art Blade]

Heheh, you are   ;D

I knew butchers as in butcher's hook, rhyming with "look" in cockney rhyming slang, and "crook" as to describe criminals, a rhyming variant from the Isle of Wight, England. I found "Al Capone" as an Aussie rhyming slang term for telephone, though  :)

[mandru]

Any time being called China by Voorhees got under my skin I'd just play through the next round as Xianyong Bai so that it would make sense to me.

Good to know the actual source and background for that nickname. I'd heard of "apples and pairs" for upstairs but not enough of the rest of the tradition to make a connection.

[spaceboy]

No wonder some people think we're weird ;D

we understand fragger...it's all that blood rushing to your head being upside down all the time  ;)

[deadman1]

No wonder some people think we're weird ;D

we understand fragger...it's all that blood rushing to your head being upside down all the time  ;)

;D ;D

[PZ]

lol, space!  :-X

[Art Blade]

That reminds me. Maybe Australian airlines never show up on the other side of the world because they try to "land down under" local airports. For example Venice, Italy: numerous previous attempts were quickly covered up secretly and then called "canals." The city used to be dry as a bone.

[fragger]

No wonder some people think we're weird ;D

we understand fragger...it's all that blood rushing to your head being upside down all the time  ;)

LOL! ;D ;D ;D

At least I have an excuse... what about Cockneys?

That reminds me. Maybe Australian airlines never show up on the other side of the world because they try to "land down under" local airports. For example Venice, Italy: numerous previous attempts were quickly covered up secretly and then called "canals." The city used to be dry as a bone.

;D ;D

So who says we never contributed to the world's cultural heritage?