In Mandarin it means “cat king.” And we don’t mean this:
This is the Cat King:
A co-worker explains this morning that more people in China know Elvis as “Maowang” than know his real name. Which, mathematically speaking, makes it possible that more people on earth know him by that name.
Why the hell “Maowang”? My co-worker thinks it might be his sideburns. This guy thinks it’s because he was once called “The Hillbilly Cat.”
But wait. Did he also go by that name in Japan?
This is why we have American studies majors. Go get ‘em, culture detectives.
Comments
I asked one of our older chinese students about Maowang today (late 50's or early 60's).
He said "because of how he moved, like a cat", and proceeded to execute an Elvis movement that was decidedly cat-like.
Obviously anecdotal. I asked a few of the younger kids, and they said they'd ask their parents and get back to me.
One of my teenagers whose parents are immigrants was kind enough to fix my roughly copied character.
Posted by: garmr | November 15, 2008 5:15 PM
Garmr, what are you doing these days that includes Chinese students of many generations?
Posted by: plantnerd | November 16, 2008 10:24 AM
I'm teaching private art lessons, mostly to middle-and-highschool-age kids. As Austin is full of foreign computer programmers and university professors, a great many of the students at our studio are immigrants' children.
Posted by: garmr | November 16, 2008 12:57 PM