# 阿三



## Oswinw011

Hi,
我想问下有没有人用过”阿三“代替”印度人“，如果有，用的时候是带着贬义或者鄙视的态度去用吗？我知道这个词原来是带有歧视意味，但是很好奇这个词发展到现在是不是已经变得中性了。


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## SimonTsai

我聽過人用，跟「阿貓阿狗」意思差不多，但特別指印度人，意思是不入流。


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## Lamb67

A fascinating visual history of Sikhs in old Shanghai
Hong-Tou-A-San , a fascinating read.😘


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## Oswinw011

SimonTsai said:


> 意思是不入流。


以你的经验你会认为这个词*现在*的用法带有歧视的含义吗？有的话是不是等同于骂人nigger？


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## hx1997

网上很多人用啊，一般都是用在贬低印度的语境里。


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## Skatinginbc

聽過, 帶歧視。加個「哥」字，效果可能不太一樣。For example:
中國女孩痴痴地招呼:「嗨！阿三哥!」
印度警衛懵懵地回答:「嗨！蒸蛋妹!」(cf. 震旦 "China", from 梵語 Cīna-sthāna)


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## SimonTsai

Oswinw011 said:


> 有的话是不是等同于骂人 nigger？


I think of '阿三' as a contemptuous word, but it is not really insulting. The word 'nigger' is, however, so it is an order of magnitude more offensive, I would say. (Actually I am more used to the word 'negro', but it is said to be dated.)


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## T.D

“阿三”必定有贬义。
不过阿三的语气其实比较轻，而尼哥是种族歧视，二者有本质上的不同。
对我来说“阿三”的语气和“印度佬”差不多。


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## Seema Sheng

有一种说法，以前上海租界有很多印度人当军警，人们都称呼他们为“阿sir”, 久而久之就演变为阿三，用以代称印度人。所以阿三这个词本身是没有侮辱性内容的，确实和印度佬差不多概念。而且每个国家的人调侃别国的时候都喜欢起外号，算不上很大的恶意。


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## henter

It would be churlish to use this term to refer to them. I have talked to some folk living in India. I don't think they disdain us. Indeed, India also has some chin-jutting nationalists looking daggers at China.  And some politicians also support India's sabre-rattling.

  Regardless,  China and India would do well to act friendly towards each other since Asia needs stability.



Seema Sheng said:


> 有一种说法，以前上海租界有很多印度人当军警，人们都称呼他们为“阿sir”, 久而久之就演变为阿三，用以代称印度人。所以阿三这个词本身是没有侮辱性内容的，确实和印度佬差不多概念。而且每个国家的人调侃别国的时候都喜欢起外号，算不上很大的恶意。


这个就是歧视语言. 英文也不少的. 我一般发飙的时候才用



T.D said:


> “阿三”必定有贬义。
> 不过阿三的语气其实比较轻，而尼哥是种族歧视，二者有本质上的不同。
> 对我来说“阿三”的语气和“印度佬”差不多。


No such thing. It's an insulting term . You would be well advised not to use such rebarbative words. Some tetchy guys just use such odious words with a view to rebuking or scoffing at someone. I'd hate to say this. I also use some dreadful words when someone tries to antagonise me, say,when I'm having a ding-dong with another foam-flecked person. Otherwise, you wouldn't catch me using such off-putting words.


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## Lamb67

Referring to the blog in my previous post, the number of 'san' implies a low position in society and it is both a dated term and Shanghai dialect.  I think only a few people are using it .😋


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## T.D

henter said:


> No such thing. It's an insulting term . You would be well advised not to use such rebarbative words. Some tetchy guys just use such odious words with a view to rebuking or scoffing at someone. I'd hate to say this. I also use some dreadful words when someone tries to antagonise me, say,when I'm having a ding-dong with another foam-flecked person. Otherwise, you wouldn't catch me using such off-putting words.


Well I'm not sure how you interpret it, but to me, the level of insult in 阿三 is as mild as in 小鬼 or 老头. 
As I said, I see 阿三 the same as 印度佬. And I'm from Hangzhou, and I won't be offended if someone calls me 杭州佬. Perhaps it's a personal thing.


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## henter

T.D said:


> Well I'm not sure how you interpret it, but to me, the level of insult in 阿三 is as mild as in 小鬼 or 老头.
> As I said, I see 阿三 the same as 印度佬. And I'm from Hangzhou, and I won't be offended if someone calls me 杭州佬. Perhaps it's a personal thing.


  Hard to say, dude. Some folk just take offence at racial slurs no matter how you try to explain away such depraved behavior. For good measure, 阿三 is truly an insulting term; it was originally  coined by people speaking Shanghainese with an eye to belittling the Indian cops hired by  the British Settlement  in Shanghai.  Then Local people abhored such Indian policemen who only wanted to do their British employers' bidding while leaning on local folk, according to some Chinese books and movies.

  I still feel compelled to say we would be wise not to use such words if we fancy becoming learned people instead of louts. In fairness, I know it's utterly hard for us to not to blow a gasket when trading barbs with someone behaving like a tough online. That's why I  fessed up yesterday that I also use dirty words when someone tries to rile me deliberately.   Yet that's still no justification for using such words like 阿三 . You also can't say it's acceptable to use it on the grounds that some surly  foreigners also utter racial slurs.

 Do we have to talk like them? The answer is no. We have lots of Western intellectuals and scribes living in America and Europe. Why don't we try to talk them?    That's what I'm going to do. I don't want to squabble with such poltroons anymore. I'm fed up with them. I even feel squeamish about my own strenuous attempts to learn grotty words in a bid to clap back at such agitators.  I won't do it again.   I only want to talk to friendly people from now on.

  Thanks for taking your time to read the confessions of Henter.


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## Oswinw011

henter said:


> Hard to say, dude. Some folk just take offence at racial slurs no matter how you try to explain away such depraved behavior.


Saying it's a racist slur is really up for debate. And it's by no means as racist as some people make it out to be. (Some told me the phrase is the same as nigger in terms of its implication). You can say it's rebarbative, off-putting or odious whatever adjective you name it, but the point here is *these days, how people use it? *

According to my observation, the derogatory epithet when used online is less racist than the likes of nigger, chinaman chink, etc. That's why Nytimes referred to it as "a derogatory term"instead of a racist slur.

You can search in bilibili to see whether all those uploaders intended racism within their videos when they talk about 阿三. The truth is I found that quite a lot of people use it as banter like 印度佬, or some even take it as one of such affectionate nicknames as 樱花妹。
Just because it was coined to belittle the Indian cops doesn't mean people still use it the same way they did decades ago.

小资土豪 used to be bad words but later developed a humorous and innocuous sense, if not a sense of admiring the person described.

People's attitude towards the phrase and the way it's used matter if we want to determine whether it's racist or not. That a bunch of imbeciles on 4chan abused and distorted the connotation of the OK gesture has led it to be classified a hate symbol. This clearly illustrates that how a society perceives a phrase has a direct bearing on its connotation. If everyone takes it as a neutral phrase and holds no malicious intention using it, it will finally become a "normal" phrase.

Are we there? Or how far are we from it being a neutral phrase?


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## henter

Oswinw011 said:


> Saying it's a racist slur is really up for debate. And it's by no means as racist as some people make it out to be. (Some told me the phrase is the same as nigger in terms of its implication). You can say it's rebarbative, off-putting or odious whatever adjective you name it, but the point here is *these days, how people use it? *
> 
> According to my observation, the derogatory epithet when used online is less racist than the likes of nigger, chinaman chink, etc. That's why Nytimes referred to it as "a derogatory term"instead of a racist slur.
> 
> You can search in bilibili to see whether all those uploaders intended racism within their videos. I found that quite a lot of people use it as banter like 印度佬, or some even take it as one of such affectionate nicknames as 樱花妹。
> Just because it was coined to belittle the Indian cops doesn't mean people still use it the same way they did decades ago.
> 小资土豪 used to be bad words but later developed a humorous and innocuous sense, if not a sense of admiring the person described.
> 
> People's attitude towards the phrase and the way it's used matter if we want to determine whether it's racist or not. That a bunch of imbeciles on 4chan abused and distorted the connotation of the OK gesture has led it to be classified a hate symbol. This clearly illustrates that how a society perceives a phrase has a direct bearing on its connotation. If everyone takes it as a neutral phrase and holds no malicious intention using it, it will finally become a "normal" phrase.
> 
> Are we there? Or how far are we from it being a neutral phrase?


You may have a point, dude. I'm just speaking for myself. I have had dreadful encounters with self-consciousness nativists loth to treat you well if you balk at countenancing their misdeeds and buying into their gibberish full of racist overtones. One of them even scolded me for proclaiming all lives matter, saying that's an  insult to BLM.  Therefore, I think there is a case to be made that I know more poxy words than most Chinese fellows here. Please forgive me if you think I'm prattling on about my experience in this context.   I'm not lying when I say I have talked to scores of liberals and conservatives.

  That's why I think our Chinese fellows'd be  better off trying to talk like educated people instead of cads keen on making snarky comments designed to revile people.  What's the good of talking like a crank hating someone refusing to toady to you? I say this because I have learned some hard lessons from this.  I have bashed people online-is my face red? I have  also been trashed by other provocateurs, some of whom  called  me buddy at first and then savaged me later on for refusing to play along. Sorry, I still don't know much about the rules here. So I don't know if you are allowed to talk about something that's not related to English and Chinese language studies here.

  What I'm trying to say is please don't use words like  阿三 if you want to be a bright mind. We need to be willing to talk like a mensch just like our ancient Chinese thinkers did.  You can bet your bippy that they would have read  The Economist if The Economist had been published in ancient China.  And they wouldn't have read  a novel called Fifty Shades of Grey.


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## Lianxin

Oswinw011 said:


> Hi,
> 我想问下有没有人用过”阿三“代替”印度人“，如果有，用的时候是带着贬义或者鄙视的态度去用吗？我知道这个词原来是带有歧视意味，但是很好奇这个词发展到现在是不是已经变得中性了。


其衍生為指向印度或印度人的“*印度阿三*”、“*阿三*”或“*三哥*”等词语仍然是比较流行的网络用语。
source: 阿三 - 求真百科


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