她很cheap她很low

[Matthewkell]

Just a minor question which has been bugging me slightly - I've noticed that Chinese people like to use the English words "cheap" and "low" a lot, for example they will be speaking entirely in Chinese but add the word "cheap" in English, or "cheap girl". By spending way too much time baiduing random questions to see what Chinese discussion forums are saying about various topics, I've found that in particular there seems to be a belief that foreigners view Chinese girls as "cheap girls." 

I'm curious about the origin of this "low" and "cheap" thing, because it really isn't something we say that commonly in English in that context. (i.e. basically calling someone a slut) So where does it come from? What makes me particularly curious about it is that the top result for "cheap girl" on sogou is the answer to a question about what it means saying "额，cheap girl是老外对中国女人的称呼啊，就是说白送的，玩玩就可以丢掉那种。" Trawling through related discussions, it appears that this is quite a common belief that foreigners describe Chinese girls as "cheap," and I guess that this is the reason for using "cheap" and "low" as Chinglishisms. But this just isn't true, and at least in liberal western countries with a fairly strong belief in gender equality it is horribly outdated, and even socially unacceptable, to talk about girls in terms of monetary value. The thought of me saying to a male friend "yeah, she's a pretty cheap girl" even makes me feel some revulsion, which I guess is why it is bugging me so much. So where does it come from? Most chinglishisms have an identifiable origin, (e.g. "pk" being used for "competition" apparently comes from an abbreviation of "player kill" in some video game.) Was the "cheap, low" thing some blog post which went viral? Was it used on a TV show or something? Does anyone have any theories?

 

[Publius]

Well I think it's a substitute for the Chinese word 賤, which means cheap in a negative sense. A woman with loose moral standards can be called a "賤貨". A woman who exhibits low self esteem behaviors, such as clinging on to an abusive, good-for-nothing boyfriend, or marrying down to someone far below her social status, can be described as "作踐自己".

The word 賤 however is highly derogatory. A woman with class would probably feel embarrassed to use such a strong word. I'm no expert but my theory is "她很cheap" is popularized by Hong Kong soap operas. Hong Kongers are known for their tendency to pepper a normal conversation with random English words. To some people at least, "很low很cheap" sounds better/classier than "很賤很沒品". Another word 賤格 originating from Cantonese can be used to describe a male. There's also the possibility of influence by Taiwan talk shows. And of course the internet. Anything can suddenly become trendy because of a random post, a random video. I'm very "out" in this regard, so nothing I can tell.

[somethingfunny]

It seems like you have two questions:

 

1. Why are the English words "cheap" and "low" used instead of equivalent Chinese words?

2. Why do Chinese people think non-Chinese people view Chinese girls as "cheap"?

 

I'm no linguist, but as Publius says, there is a growing phenomenon to drop English words into common, everyday speech.  It can demonstrate your level of English to others, and also allows you to form an exclusive "in-group" with special terminology - which is important for strengthening social bonds etc.  It may also be used when referring to sensitive topics.  I'm not convinced about how true this is, but one of the Chinese language topics a lot of Chinese people will willingly talk at great length about is how creative it is when referring to negative concepts (see 待业 for "awaiting employment" rather than "unemployed" etc).  To be honest, all kinds of crazy stuff happens with languages at the best of times, but take a group of young people and have them intensively learn a foreign language and it's almost impossible to predict what will happen.  I remember a few years ago when Chinese students started replacing the English word "show" with the Chinese 秀.  Someone tried to justify it ("there's no word for 'show' in Chinese") but really they're just playing around until they find something funny and interesting that sticks.

 

But like I say, I'm no linguist.

 

As for your second question - it's a shame that this negative stereotype persists, but I'm afraid not everyone's intentions and actions are as pure as yours (and mine).  In a lot of situations, such a reputation is fully deserved I would say.

[Lu]

2 hours ago, Matthewkell said:

it appears that this is quite a common belief that foreigners describe Chinese girls as "cheap," and I guess that this is the reason for using "cheap" and "low" as Chinglishisms. But this just isn't true, and at least in liberal western countries with a fairly strong belief in gender equality it is horribly outdated, and even socially unacceptable, to talk about girls in terms of monetary value. The thought of me saying to a male friend "yeah, she's a pretty cheap girl" even makes me feel some revulsion, which I guess is why it is bugging me so much.

I wouldn't be surprised is this is true, among certain circles of foreign men in China. If you're a foreign man going to a certain type of bar, a certain type of Chinese woman will fling herself at you. If you're a man who likes this, you'll frequent such bars more often, perhaps make some like-minded foreign friends, and I would not be surprised if such men call such women cheap. And since those are the Chinese women they meet the most of, they might come to believe that all Chinese women are cheap.

 

But I can certainly see why you, as a foreign man yourself, detest being painted with that brush. Most foreign guys are not like this.

 

Women who fling themselves at any likely foreign guy are a tiny minority in China, but since there are a lot of Chinese, there is still quite a large number of these women. Enough to give foreign men this idea, and for certain Chinese men to be mad at both these men and these women.

 

(As a side note, these women have every right to sleep with as many men as they like, foreign or otherwise. To call them 'cheap', or to imply that they deserve being called 'cheap', suggests that women should 'sell' themselves to the highest bidder. I strongly disagree with this. Women can choose whoever they do or don't want to sleep with. If they want a quick fling and they find a man who's interested, they should go for it. A woman's value doesn't sit between her legs.)

[Flickserve]

2 hours ago, Matthewkell said:

I'm curious about the origin of this "low" and "cheap" thing, because it really isn't something we say that commonly in English in that context

 

You have never heard of a girl being described as cheap in English? 

[Matthewkell]

41 minutes ago, Flickserve said:

 

You have never heard of a girl being described as cheap in English? 

 

Not very often, and nowhere near common enough for it be used in the way I described.

I think Publius' explanation is basically on the dot.

[Flickserve]

3 minutes ago, Matthewkell said:

Not very often, and nowhere near common enough for it be used in the way I described.

 

I must be older than I thought. 

 

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cheap

[Flickserve]

2 hours ago, Publius said:

I'm no expert but my theory is "她很cheap" is popularized by Hong Kong soup operas. Hong Kongers are known for their tendency to pepper a normal conversation with random English words

 

It is not random. The description originates from English. You are probably correct on the reason for its dissemination. 

[imron]

3 hours ago, Flickserve said:

is popularized by Hong Kong soup operas

I'm curious about what a soup opera entails

[Publius]

4 minutes ago, imron said:

I'm curious about what a soup opera entails

You pepper it

[Lumbering Ox]

7 hours ago, imron said:

I'm curious about what a soup opera entails

 

6 hours ago, Publius said:

You pepper it

 

 

Shouldn't that be soup opera entRails?

 

Yeah I know, that's offal.