It is not hard to see why cross cultural confusion is so easy. The Collins Chinese/English Dictionary has the core meaning of lao with the third tone as 'old' and is used as a prefix/start for many combined words with a very diverse range of meanings. In the same dictionary the English word of foreigner has only one ... Full Comment>>
gerry4 on SNMandarin 's blog Why do Chinese call us "Lǎowài老外 ”?(17 comments)
It is not hard to see why cross cultural confusion is so easy. The Collins Chinese/English Dictionary has the core meaning of lao with the third tone as 'old' and is used as a prefix/start for many combined words with a very diverse range of meanings. In the same dictionary the English word of foreigner has only one ... Full Comment>>