Meaning of "AA制"

[Lu]

As a Dutch, I am not at all offended by the term. The Swedish friend shouldn't worry about it. I never even considered being offended.

At some point in the past, the English were at war with the Dutch, so they disliked them; also the Dutch have a reputation for being stingy; and so the term was coined. It must be in the Chinese English textbooks, I get asked about it sometimes when Chinese hear I'm Dutch.

And lastly, the Dutch do in fact often go Dutch. Often this means every person pays for exactly what they had, a more 大方 version is when the amount on the bill is just split between the number of people and everyone pays the same. One person picking up the bill is rare.

[Lugubert]

a.a. is not uncommon on pharmaceutical labels. This page gives you

4. ana (partes aequales) (Lat., - med., farm., receptuur, symb.; cf. ana, ANA 14.)/ symbole pharmaceutique indiquant un mélange en quantités égales (Fr.)/ in medical prescriptions, of each a like quantity, or equal parts (Eng.)/ mitad-mitad (Sp.)/ in parti uguali (It.)/ dezelfde; nl.dezelfde hoeveelheid als hierboven genoemd (Ned.)

5. take one of each (Eng., - fotogr.)

Seems likely to be the AA origin.

[skylee]

Hi Skylee, we (English speakers) dont use AA制 but we do use the term to go dutch... (please forgive me if I misunderstood your post regarding "(or else English speakers would be using this term instead of asking its meaning)."

What I meant to say was, "I think the term "AA制" is from Hong Kong. It ("AA制") means "to go Dutch" but AFAIK the term "AA制" has nothing to do with the Dutch or the English (or else English speakers would be using this term ("AA制") instead of asking its meaning).

[Shadowdh]

Ah thats what I thought after I started writing/typing... thanks for clarifying...

[Han-tiger]

"AA制", originally coming from overseas, is a very hot phrase in daily oral communications. In China, "AA制" means 平均分担帐单.( Each person in a group of people equally shares the bill of a dinner , a drink or something of this kind. )

There are also another hot phrase, “凑份子”, in English, means chip in.

[Mugi]

AA制 was coined in Hong Kong, probably a couple of decades ago. It was in common use among Cantonese speakers in the Pearl River Delta more than a decade ago, and has since entered Mandarin, obviously to quite some degree to appear in a text book. The term's etymology is based on the concept of "I pay amount A and you pay amount A" (i.e. the same amount). In natural English, we would probably descride it as "you pay amount x and I'll pay amount x" (i.e. x = x). Where in English we tend to use X, Y and Z to stand for hypothetical entities, I've noticed the likes of Chinese and Japanese tend to use A, B and C when they don't use 甲, 乙, 丙.

[skylee]

The term's etymology is based on the concept of "I pay amount A and you pay amount A" (i.e. the same amount).

Is there a source of this information? I mean this term is in my daily vocab and I don't really know where it comes from and if what you say is true I would like to know the source. Thanks.

[Luobot]

To suggest: “Let’s split the bill” or “Let’s go Dutch”

I came across this:

各付各的吧 ( Gè fù gè de ba )

Literally, “Each pay each”

[Lu]

Here in Taiwan it's usually called 分開付 fen1kai1 fu4.

[Shadowdh]

I was in a restaurant the other night and the lady asked us if we were going 分开 so I guess thats also used here...

[cdn_in_bj]

各付各的吧 ( Gè fù gè de ba )

Literally, “Each pay each”

I've also heard this used here.

[Mugi]

Is there a source of this information? I mean this term is in my daily vocab and I don't really know where it comes from and if what you say is true I would like to know the source. Thanks.

I'll take a look later this week in a couple of books I have at home, but my primary source was a linguistics professor at 中山大学.