"Mydnight" > writes:

> >If one's Chinese friends ever discover that one lived in a socialist country
> >they always forewarn one never to use the Chinese equivalent of the very
> >common word "comrade" - Tong Zhi, in its original meaning, because nowadays
> >it is used almost exclusively to describe gays. I saw that cake - these are
> >the right characters... So I wonder - since this is a new cake - what does
> >it name mean - an Old Comrade or an Old Fairy?
>
> A derived form of this that's used today is "tong shi" which means
> workmate. The use of comrade in China sorta has faded out a bit, but
> Alex is right; in the North they do use this terminology to refer to
> gays. It's not widespread.
>

I just got this confirmed by a Taiwanese colleague of mine. She
thinks the code phrase originated in the title of a Hong Kong movie of
ten years or so ago (sorry, I don't have the title.) Immoral Mr Teas,
are you listening?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html