May 2nd, 2007

Male perceptions of body image in Taiwan

A few years ago, researchers started with “muscle dysmorphia” and body-image perceptions in the United States and Europe and wondered whether the same problems afflict Taiwanese men. Listen for the results. But don’t be confused by the chicken meat (肌肉). Sean Cole interviews Taiwanese pop star A-Mèi for her opinion. I remember a story in CNN some years ago on the singer, and it referred to her as “Ms. Mei”. Um, that’s not right.

In Taiwanese, the “A-” prefix is used to form nicknames; compare English which appends “-y” for the same purpose. In English, “Mike” becomes “Mikey”; in Taiwanese, “Huì-Mèi” becomes “A-Mèi”. If you want to refer to her formally, it’s “Ms. Chang”. Using “Ms. Mei” would be like referring to the musician Eddie Van Halen as “Mr. Ed”.

Author

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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