A-tok-a<\/em> (ㄚ度仔) is Taiwanese for “pointy nose” (i.e., Westerner), though perhaps the common translation of “big nose” conveys the spirit a little better. As Tempo Gain explains in the Forumosa thread on this word<\/a>, “the initial ‘a’ often preceds names, and the final ‘a’ often is attached to nouns like the Mandarin ‘zi’ haizi<\/em>, chezi<\/em>, etc.”<\/p>\n Although most foreigners I know in Taiwan find the use of a-tok-a<\/em> offensive to some degree, reactions are usually tempered by the knowledge that the word is very seldom used intentionally as a pejorative. It’s just the word most Hoklo speakers would use for “Westerner,” and they mean nothing bad by this and perhaps even see it as “cute” in a favorable way. So since I’m certain the restaurateurs didn’t intend any insult in choosing this name, I’m not going to carp about this any more than I already have — which is not to say that I will ever<\/em> buy anything from that restaurant.<\/p>\n It’s still an interesting name, though. (Actually, this is probably two<\/em> names: the standard one (ㄚ度仔 異國美食), which is for most people, and the English one (Miss UK Cafe), which is probably there in an attempt to look modern\/foreign\/cool.) <\/p>\n For those keeping count, that’s three scripts and as many languages on just one sign. <\/p>\n The mixing of scripts in “ㄚ度仔” is representative of the sad fact that most people in Taiwan are unsure how to write Taiwanese. Here are some of the ways this word gets written, along with the number of Google results and Baidu results for that exact phrase.<\/p>\n Also interesting is the use of yìguó (異國) instead of the more common wàiguó (外國), for “foreign.” <\/p>\n Yìguó měishí<\/span>, however, is more common than wàiguó měishí<\/span>. <\/p>\n This, I suspect, is because yìguó měishí<\/span> “sounds fancier” because of how relatively common the word waiguo<\/em> is. <\/p>\n further reading: <\/p>\n Imagine some white guys in a fairly large U.S. city open a restaurant named “Mr. Taiwan Slant-Eyes Asian Cuisine.” And imagine that this restaurant specializes in distinctly Americanized dishes such as egg foo yong, fortune cookies, and California wraps. Now … Continue reading \n
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