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Re: Vietnamese vs English - noi lai and play languages
I've just read the biography book from the old scholar/Ancient art collector Mr.
Vu*o*ng Ho^`ng Se^?n titled "Nu*?a ddo*`i ngu*o*`i hu*", he uses a lot of this
play language (no'i la'i), especially for sexual terms. He talks about his trip
to Tokyo in 1963 and met with two French friends. When they checked in the
hotel and were given the Japanese robes which were too small for the French guys
to cover the front and he uses the term "lu` coi"! .
I remember people used to use a lot of "no'i la'i" when making jokes or secret
codes, especially in the South many years ago.
For the Gay Viet communities, I don't see we use it here in the U.S lately.
Not sure if it's a stereotyped universal language for Gay queens to call each
other "sister", "mother", "bitch",... The similar Viet terms "ba`", "me.",
"chi.", "co^", "ddi~",... are used everyday here. Sometimes we call our Lesbian
friends "anh" as well! (Some of our friends encounter a few embarrassing
moments when using these terms at home or public places! Be careful!)
Besides that, I see another "Play language" that is pretty popular among Viet
Gay queens here: Giving each other female names like "Lan", "Hue^.", "Hu*o*ng",
"Lie^~u", "Mary Lou", "Nancy", "Susan",...
Sometimes they import a few new terms from their trips to Viet Nam such as "Xu*a
ro^`i Die^~m!" (It's old!), "Nghi~ sao va^.y Phu*o*.ng?" (What the hell do you
think?),... which they use now!
Because of the urge to express their feelings and/or to use these queer terms,
Gay Vietnamese tend to talk in their native tongue whenever they have a chance
to get together. Isn't it why this Vietnamese vs English discussion started
here?
Lee Ngo
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