Richard & Li Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 I see many of you publicly refering to your wives as 'lao po' (old woman). How do you get away with that? Li says that is very impolite. I always refer to her as 'chi zi' (honored wife) in public. I hope for some interesting responses... Link to comment
Yuanyang Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 (edited) Tai tai (sounds like tie-tie) is wife. You call her Lao po for 'my dear wife'. She calls you Lao gong for 'my dear husband (or dumbass)'.PS Lao tai tai is old woman. That gets used around here a lot. Lao po po is very old woman. Edited January 8, 2009 by Yuanyang (see edit history) Link to comment
chilton747 Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 My wife likes to be referred to Lao Po. She always says she is "old woman." Link to comment
Sebastian Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap upside my heid. Really? lao po is bad? She taught me that one, said it's the 'official title'. as to 'tai tai' - I learned that one in Singapore - but it had a negative connotation (hokkien derivation?) of a rich sculpted older wife, spending the money on what ever she wanted, maintaining social status. Used in a sentence - 'Did you see that tai tai at DKNY? She needs some more lipo' But hei - I understand regional differences of definitions of the same words, but I think I'll get kicked if I call her 'tai tai'. Thanks for the lesson, Richard... Link to comment
Richard & Li Posted January 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 I should add: Li told me there are several ways of referring to one's wife. She likes me to use 'chi zi'. Link to comment
warpedbored Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 This topic has come up before. There doesn't seem to be any clear concensus. Perhaps one of our Chinese woman members can shed some light on it. My wife like Richard's dislikes Lao Po. I call her Tai Tai. Other husbands we know with wives from the same city call their wives Lao Po. Link to comment
2mike&jin Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 I see many of you publicly refering to your wives as 'lao po' (old woman). How do you get away with that? Li says that is very impolite. I always refer to her as 'chi zi' (honored wife) in public. I hope for some interesting responses... In public just use "Ai Ren" == Spouse - works for both male and female! as in: Zhe shi wo de ai ren! Hawaii Mike Link to comment
Dennis143 Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 I thought it'd be cute to call her the translated equivalent of My Little Wife or Sha Lao Po which translates to My Inferior Wife or my second wife whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap upside my heid too. Who knew? Link to comment
Richard & Li Posted January 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 Li said that 'lao po' could be a teasing kind of pet name in private. But, that it should not be used in public. I suppose it is different with people from other locals. She calls me 'stubborn old man' (in English) when she's teasing me at home. But, she always acts & speaks very respectfully in public. I imagine this topic has been discussed before. But, I probably wasn't here then or didn't see it. Also, Li just told me this recently. Link to comment
Richard & Li Posted January 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 In public just use "Ai Ren" == Spouse - works for both male and female! as in: Zhe shi wo de ai ren! Hawaii Mike I believe that means 'loved one', or literally 'loved person'. I think we'll find here: There are many ways of saying it and many of those are specific to certain regions. Link to comment
sweattrl1 Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 lao po is what my wife ask me to call her , and she is far from being old, and most of the time i just call her my love Link to comment
Guest Tony n Terrific Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 When I call my wife Lao Po she calls me Lao Todzi. Old man Link to comment
jhammer Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 In public just use "Ai Ren" == Spouse - works for both male and female! as in: Zhe shi wo de ai ren! Hawaii Mike I believe that means 'loved one', or literally 'loved person'. I think we'll find here: There are many ways of saying it and many of those are specific to certain regions.I call my SO Lao Ban ( Boss ), when I'm not calling her Lao Po, even though we aren't married, we believe we are in common-law marriage. She Calls me Huai Dan, when she's not calling me Lao Gong. I might add , since the regional aspect was covered, there may also be a family aspect. One family's particular tradition / orientation to certain ritualistic phrases being particular and having particular emphasis that varies. I would suspect family position would impact that a lot, even in China. People have history, people have family status.my 2 cents. Link to comment
george lee Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 I see many of you publicly refering to your wives as 'lao po' (old woman). How do you get away with that? Li says that is very impolite. I always refer to her as 'chi zi' (honored wife) in public. I hope for some interesting responses... In public just use "Ai Ren" == Spouse - works for both male and female! as in: Zhe shi wo de ai ren! Hawaii Mike i would be careful using "ai ren" as your spouse around people. the words "ai ren" translated as "love person" and can be translated as boyfriend, girlfriend, lover, or mistress to people who dont know that she or he is your spouse. Link to comment
tonado Posted January 8, 2009 Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?t=1834 Link to comment
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