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Posts: 40

Shifu

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Q: What's the story behind calling someone a '250'?

means stupid, but why?

14 years 22 weeks ago in  General  - China

 
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Posts: 7204

Emperor

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well you see
a person once asked 250 s$p@d questions
But seriously I doubt you will find out
there are some other ones ive come accross like shut your crow mouth.
but where it comes from is anybodys guess.
best of luck

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14 years 21 weeks ago
 
Posts: 960

Shifu

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I think it is along the lines of "not the full quid" "not playing with a full deck" "50 cents short of a dollar"

thedude:

A couple of sandwiches short of a picnic. Not playing with a full deck of cards.

14 years 21 weeks ago
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14 years 21 weeks ago
 
Posts: 783

Shifu

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its a play on words 250 sounds like you are stupid

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14 years 21 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1076

Emperor

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Um where? I've never heard this anywhere in China. Must be a local thing from where you all are at. Er bei wu shi doesn't sound like any term for stupid I know. Neither does "er wu ling".

It's got to be some local slang.

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14 years 21 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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It is pretty widespread in Nth China and used between the younger generation

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14 years 21 weeks ago
 
Posts: 1911

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From a post on the echinacites site:
Strangely, some numbers can even be insulting in Chinese. Being called 250 or er bai wu 二百五 means they think you're a fool, and calling a woman a 3-8, or san ba 三八, is like saying she's a witch, only spelled with a 'b'.

The stories behind these insults are a little obscure—one story has it that 250 is half of the ancient standard measure of 500 and so it's the equivalent of saying someone is half baked or not playing with a full deck. Another story is that an emperor was offering a reward as a trick to catch some assassins but instead of one killer, four turned up. He couldn't prove if any of them were lying or not so he gave them each a quarter of the 1000-liang gold reward and then had them summarily beheaded. Calling a woman a 3-8 is a much more modern insult. It is said to refer to International Women's Day, held on March 8th every year. So it's accusing a woman of being an uppity feminist.

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MrTibbles:

Been in China over 8 years, never even heard these.

14 years 21 weeks ago
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HugAPanda:

Well, MrT, you have been very insightful and taught me several things, some I didn't even know I wanted or needed to know. I'm glad I could finally reciprocate, even if only something minor ;)

14 years 21 weeks ago
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14 years 21 weeks ago
 
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