To ding, and similar Chinglish

[skylee]

My boss came to my desk today and asked for a document. He asked me to "ding" it to him, meaning to email it to him. I was quite amused as, although we say this in Cantonese every day, I had not heard any westerner use it (in English) before. Probably he used it trying to 1) show us that he knows Cantonese; and/or 2) be friendly to low-level employees; and/or 3) give us a good laugh as it was Friday afternoon (this seems unlikely, and I didn't laugh).

I am not sure if other people use it in English, or even use it in Chinese/Cantonese outside Hong Kong. And I wonder if other English speakers like to use Chinese words/slangs this way when they speak in English.

Views?

BTW, over here "叮" means to email because of the notification signalling receipt of emails. "叮" also means to cook/reheat food using microwave (叮熱/叮熟).

[anonymoose]

Probably he used it trying to 1) show us that he knows Cantonese; and/or 2) be friendly to low-level employees

I reckon probably a combination of 1 and 2: show that he knows Cantonese to low-level employees

[Yang Rui]

I'm working in London at the moment and it's quite common to hear people talk about "pinging" an email across. So he might just have been using a similar onomatopoeic word and not have realised that it is used in Cantonese.

[creamyhorror]

Similarly, the Japanese use "chin" as the verb for microwaving something (from the sound of the microwave oven finishing cooking).

[daofeishi]

This is something I do all the time when speaking English with laowai friends in China. We talk about things being and not being "fangbian", we describe things as "mafan", etc. It just adds a playful tone to the conversation. It's not something I would do in the US, but when we're in China we share some extra cultural background that can be used for fun.

[renzhe]

I'm working in London at the moment and it's quite common to hear people talk about "pinging" an email across.

In IT circles, "ping" has a well-established meaning, though, and it comes from "ping-pong". You send a "ping" when you want to check whether something or somebody (another computer, a person in a chatroom, etc.) is currently available, and if you get a "pong" back, that means that they got your message and are available.

One of the oldest (and still most commonly used) Unix utilities is called "ping"

I haven't heard it used with emails yet, but I'd assume that it's a short email asking for a short (and prompt) answer.

[Yezze]

I know what the technical term ping means, in summary what renzhe explained. But in my high school people are starting to say "ping me it", instead of e-mail me it.