The problem with dialects

I was a couple of days late paying for Ezra's school. I went in there today to pay and there was another woman in there with her son who was also paying.

She knelt down next to her young son and started saying things in Chinese like, "Foreigner! Those are foreigners. Look at the foreigners." I've done similar things many times with Zuri trying to teach new words. Of course, I would never point out "foreigners" (even in America) but I don't think it's rude to point out the trees or birds to your child.

Anyway, one of the women working in the office said, "They don't understand." I get this all the time and I as usual, I just ignored it.

So then the mother started saying to her son, "Doggies! Doggies!" She was saying it over and over again and I began to take offense. Why was she calling us dogs? That's even ruder...is this some kind of name the Chinese call foreigners (like "long noses" or "devils") that I've just never heard before?

In true Carleigh-fashion, I couldn't help myself. I turned around and said in Chinese, "Are you calling us dogs?"

They all laughed at me. Apparently, in standard Chinese, the word for "big brother" (which is the relationship between Ezra and the little boy in China)is the same as the word for "doggie" in Suzhou-nese.

Guess ya really do learn something new everyday.