ZhaShi

Written on August 14, 2006

“Samantha is a good name.  I like it.  Ting hao.” HunagJing blurted out one afternoon.

She stood by the cash register, hands folded and resting on the counter, eyes slightly narrowed in thought as though she had something else to say, but couldn’t quite figure out how to phrase it.

“But…?” I asked.

“But in Chinese, Joshua means, ‘I look for tree.’”

She spoke these words so apologetically and in such a heavy accent that I laughed in spite of myself.  The simple fact that we had given our son a name which, in my mind at least, conjured up visions of little puppy dogs, struck me as hilarious.  If nothing else it explained the strange looks I’d often receive when calling my children to my side.

“I look for tree” I thought.  Humorous though it may be, he needed a Chinese name.

Turning to HuangJing, I half asked, half mumbled, “What is it that LanFeng calls him?”

“Xiao Ben Ben.” she stated matter-of-factly.

“No, not Little Clumsy.” I replied, “It’s something that sounds a lot like ‘Josh’, but I can’t remember how to pronounce it.”

HuangJing stared at the counter for a long time, apparently searching her internal thesaurus for anything which sounded like my son’s nick-name, but with a defeated sigh, she squeezed by me, poked her head into the hallway and shouted, “DaSao!”

“Eh?” came LanFeng’s voice from somewhere around the corner.

“Come here a minute, I have a question for you.”

Ten seconds later, LanFeng bounced into the store, parking herself directly next to my right shoulder.  She rested her elbows on the countertop, placed her chin on her knuckles, and looked up at HuangJing expectantly.

“What is it that you call Josh?” HuangJing inquired.

“ZhaShi.” replied LanFeng merrily.

“Shenme?” came HuangJing’s retort.

“ZhaShi!” LanFeng repeated a little more clearly.

“Shenme ZhaShi?” HuangJing asked, thus setting the ball into play for a rather lengthy match of verbal ping-pong as they discussed exactly which “Zha” and which “Shi” were involved, whether it was a good name or not, etcetera. 

Eventually though, HunagJing nodded in approval and they both turned to face me stating the word “ZhaShi” in unison.

I just stood there. 

It was all very well and good that they had come to an agreement, but I felt a little lost after that dizzying rally of theirs and wasn’t sure how to respond.

“O.k.” I said slowly, “but what does it mean?” 

HuangJing’s face fell.  She obviously didn’t know the English translation.  However, as she dove for her dictionary, LanFeng began giggling. 

She slapped me on the shoulder to gain my attention then flexed her muscles as she again repeated the word I’d heard discussed in detail over the past five minutes, “ZhaShi”.

Still chortling, she inclined her chin towards where HuangJing stood, leafing through a dictionary, grabbed the handle of her dust-mop and marched back out to the Lobby shaking her head in amusement.

“LanFeng…” I chuckled to myself, “She’s something else…”

“Hey,” I heard HuangJing say as she pointed into her dictionary, “Look at this.”

It read: “Zha-shi: stable, sturdy, strong.”

I smiled.

“Better than ‘I look for tree’ eh?”

HunagJing studied the mischievous glint in my eyes momentarily, trying to figure out whether I was serious or not, before finally deciding my words held a foot in each realm as she replied, “Much better.  I like it.  Ting hao.”

Ting hao - Very good

Xiao Benben - A term of affection for little kids (usually toddlers) meaning "Little Clumsy One"

DaSao - Term of respect for middle-aged women, literally meaning "my Elder Brother's Wife"

Shenme - What