sundaymorningstaple wrote:Oh, to add my 2¢ worth, I asked my wife (Tamil) and she concurs that yes it has been used as long as she's been around and yes it is a derogatory racist terms often used with regard to Indians by the Uneducated Chinese children (taught obviously by the Uneducated Chinese parents or grandparents).
It's very strange to say the least, because in Taiwan the phrase is used every day, by babies and they continue to use it when growing up, and there is very few Indians around that i can see...
I'm sure that maybe some other Taiwanese can vouch for this, so I would say, that it has been dragged into Singlish, with no real foundation of a derogatory meaning... Imagine if we are 1000 Taiwanese 2 Indians and 1 Singaporean, that came out with that expression...1000 Taiwanese would not see it, as derogatory and it is hakke language...
That's why I am dumbfounded by it...my daughter is 7 and she says it occasionally, without the grandma bit, because grandma is not here, but the exact meaning of neh neh from a baby would be asking for milk....not tits or breast, but the feeding bottle..It's referred to breast later in life, as a kiddies expression for tits, breast's by adults, to children.
Although and would i could imagine be used very often, if a large breasted woman passed by, more out of envy, than anything else, because Chinese don't have big boobies, which they would all like to have.
Can you imagine when i was in Beijing to study, i went to the pharmacy to buy
condoms, and went back to my dorm, it wasn't until i was in a embarrassing position, that i realised i couldn't use them....and American had to come back with me, to explain i needed the extra large ones...everyone turned red and was giggling, crikey i thought, i'm only average, what's the joke that was making me feel so uncomfortable.
So I think the Singaporeans and the Indians, may have bypassed eachother, although I will say most Indian women are well endowed in the breast department, So I can imagine many Chinese kids would say neh neh and possibly point, which of course is rude.
I could only hope, that Indians, can look at the true meaning of the word, and it would be a compliment rather than, a derogatory iin my book, although I'm a Brit, so it does help to here the explanation come from a few Chinese, Mmm I'll have to check that with my Singaporean brother-in-law.
Wikipedia by the way, is not always correct information either! So more that join in on this, the more crystal clear it will become....If any indians are out there are reading this, we are just attempting to educate Singaporeans in the use of Chinese.
No wonder many Singaporeans, go to Taiwan or China to learn Chinese.
dumbovader! Thanks for the link, my apologies, but dumbfounded i am!
Hakka for those that don't know it, where probably here in Singapore in the trading days, too, so it would have been used on a regular basis.
Hakka
The Hakka (Mandarin: Kèjīa) are a subgroup of the Han Chinese people who live predominantly in the provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Fujian in China. Their ancestors were often said to be from Northern China or Central China centuries ago. Hakkas originate from Southern China. In a series of migrations, the Hakka settled in their present locations in southern China, and then migrated overseas to various nations throughout the world. The Hakka have had a significant influence on the course of Chinese and overseas Chinese history: in particular, they have been a source of revolutionary and political leaders.
FlutterbWhether it was used as such by the boy in the LRT, well, who knows? It would have to be a pretty big coincidence though, if it wasnt actually used by the boy in a racist way.
I guess it look's like coincidence then, because he did say grandma was probably with the boy "a kid most probably in kindergarten with his grandmother goes " In that case it wouldn't have been derogatory, however if a child, without the grandmother being there used the, phrase apur neh neh, then i agree, it is a clear derogatory term.
And it would be if i said, god look at grandma tits.. so no difference, although that's also a great misundertsanding on behalf of many, if grandma is with the child, the kid is saying to grandmother in a nice way, because that's how kids are raised at feeding time, if you can understand the clear difference. the kid is clearly not being derogatory.
However it is easy to make mountains out of mole hills!
which is normally what happens in language. Although I'm sure my brother in law, will brief me, on the issue.
. Maybe I should explain my cooking methods when I post my profile in the sites in the wanted ads. 
We can confirm it first-handedly, anecdotally and via online reference so it must be factual regardless of it's origin.
