Jook-sing is a Cantonese term used to describe an Overseas Chinese person who has grown up in a Western environment.

Etymology

"Jook-sing" means a grain-measuring container made of bamboo (compare the term senk1 daw2 (升斗), daw2 being a kind of rice measurer). Bamboo is hollow and compartmentalized, thus water poured in one end does not flow out of the other end. The metaphor is that "jook-sing"s are not part of either culture: water within the jook-sing does not flow and connect to either end. It may or may not be derogatory. Use of the term predates World War II .

Alternatively, Jook-sing is another term for a bamboo stick in Cantonese. While the original Cantonese term jook-gon (竹竿, bamboo stick) sounds like 竹乾 (dry bamboo) or 竹降 (fallen bamboo) (which also means "unfortunate" to Cantonese people) Cantonese speakers use Jook-sing (rising bamboo) instead. The implication is that a person is Chinese outside, hollow inside.

Modern term

North American usage

In the United States and Canada, the term is pejorative and is used to describe Westernized American-born or Canadian-born Chinese. The term originates from Cantonese slang in the United States. Jook-sing are categorised as having Western-centric identities, values and culture. These traits may be viewed as positive or negative.

Related colloquialisms

• Banana (Jyutping: heong1 ziu1 zay2) and Twinkie (based on the snack produced by American company Hostess): often pejorative
• FOB (Fresh Off the Boat): antonym of Jook-sing
• YASP (Yellow "Anglo-Saxon Protestant") A rare term, usually refers to very preppy Asians who are grads of prep schools and live what many outsiders would see as a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant lifestyle. They or their parents are generally from places like Hong Kong or Singapore. Plays golf and/or tennis.

See also

• American-born Chinese
• Overseas Chinese: Chinese American, Chinese Canadian, Chinese Australians, Chinese New Zealander
• American-Born Confused Desi, a similar term for Indian Americans
• Ethnic slur

References

• Emma Woo Louie, Chinese American Names, McFarland & Company, 1998, ISBN 0-7864-0418-3
• Douglas W Lee, Chinese American history and historiography: The musings of a Jook-Sing, 1980.

External links

• Second Generation Chinese Americans at University of San Francisco
• Pilgrimage to China by Beth Boswell Jacks
• Strained Relations by Julie D. Soo
• Jook Sing Forum - Embrace your chinese side