Fun Chinese fact:
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Fun Chinese fact:
On the first episode of Three-Body (the chinese one, not the netflix one), there is a scene where the protagonist, Wang Miao, is in a meeting of various international military officials. After introducing people from various countries and the UN, the general introduces them as comrades. After that, the police officer Shi Qiang turns to Wang and, quietly, says "That's right. We call each other comrades here....Comrades." before giving him a look and turning back.
This is one of those lines that's got a double entendre.
The surface meaning is that Wang Miao, being a nanomaterials researcher in a very modern (as of 2008) China, has openly stated his distaste for working with the government and the military. Shi Qiang, constantly trying to rile him up, reminds him that they're in a room full of people who are so Oldschool Chinese Military that they refer to each other as Comrade still.
The deeper meaning is one I'm really proud of myself for catching.
The word they use for comrade, tóng zhì (同志), has a double meaning. Historically, it means comrade in a very military or labor union sense. Soldiers, revolution-era farmers, all sorts of people would call each other that term. However, in more recent times, 同志 has become gay slang for other gay people, as in "Is he, you know....a comrade?"
So the guy is making fun of the military guys for being so stuffy and old fashioned that they end up circling back to calling everyone gay.
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Fun Chinese fact:
On the first episode of Three-Body (the chinese one, not the netflix one), there is a scene where the protagonist, Wang Miao, is in a meeting of various international military officials. After introducing people from various countries and the UN, the general introduces them as comrades. After that, the police officer Shi Qiang turns to Wang and, quietly, says "That's right. We call each other comrades here....Comrades." before giving him a look and turning back.
This is one of those lines that's got a double entendre.
The surface meaning is that Wang Miao, being a nanomaterials researcher in a very modern (as of 2008) China, has openly stated his distaste for working with the government and the military. Shi Qiang, constantly trying to rile him up, reminds him that they're in a room full of people who are so Oldschool Chinese Military that they refer to each other as Comrade still.
The deeper meaning is one I'm really proud of myself for catching.
The word they use for comrade, tóng zhì (同志), has a double meaning. Historically, it means comrade in a very military or labor union sense. Soldiers, revolution-era farmers, all sorts of people would call each other that term. However, in more recent times, 同志 has become gay slang for other gay people, as in "Is he, you know....a comrade?"
So the guy is making fun of the military guys for being so stuffy and old fashioned that they end up circling back to calling everyone gay.
@Dio9sys I saw this scene.
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