Quote:
Originally Posted by ahi
How does "old ghost" become "foreign devil"? Isn't it something more like "ancient wraith" (i.e.: evil ghost from earlier ages)?
I've not a clue, so just trying to understand. To me "old ghost" and "foreign devil" are rather far apart semantically.
- Ahi
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It's not really, it's actually 鬼佬, in which the ghost concept used to just suggest white skin or pale hair iirc, and the lao/lo is "fellow". It's not particularly negative, but I suppose most slurs do not contain inherent insult from a linguistic perspective.