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Re: Vietnamese vs English - noi lai and play languages
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 10:43:00 -0800
Subject: Re: Vietnamese vs English - noi lai and play languages
Frank,
As a gay VNMese, I can say this, that "noi lai" is not just within us
(gays that I am interacting with daily) but also within my straight friends,
too. It's just a way to have fun playing with words.
CH
> From <email> Fri Jan 10 10:14:43 1997
> Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 10:07:11 -0800
> X-Authentication-Warning: szebra.saigon.com: bin set sender to
<email> using -f
> From: Anonymous Poster <email>
> Subject: Re: Vietnamese vs English - noi lai and play languages
> To: <email>
>
>
> There is a Vietnamese play language (like Pig Latin or Dog Latin, for
> English) called "noi lai" that involves exchanging parts of words (the
> initial consonant of one word is combined with the tone, vowel, and final
> consonant of another word, and the initial consonant of the second word
> is combined with the tone, vowel, and final consonant of the first
> word). Perhaps this was the case for the example offered earlier in this
> discussion.
>
> Do Vietnamese members of the list think of this form as somehow
> identified with gay people? That is, are gay people (especially those
> who might be described as queens or effeminate) supposed to be experts or
> particularly skilled in using this play language? If you had to say what
> are the characteristics of gay language among VNese men, how would you
> describe it? If we assume that there are stereotypes of "queen talk"
> among Vietnamese, what are those stereotypes?
>
> This are serious questions, and I don't mean to offend anybody. The
> earliest description of this form of play language (Cheon, 1905) says
> that it was a special occupational language of (female) prostitutes and
> "flower-boat singers" (i.e., entertainers who were also prostitutes).
> But I wonder if it might also have been popular among a homosexual
> underworld or counterculture, as a form of artistic speech or secret
> language.
>
> I'll be grateful for any thoughts.
>
> Best,
>
> Frank Proschan
> <email>
>
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