Anchoring in HK, where I learned Chinese swear words!

When I worked at TVB News in Hong Kong, I anchored the English-language newscasts but the newsroom operated mainly in Chinese. Boy, did I learn a lot of new Chinese words that my parents never taught me.  In fact, the terms are so crude I can’t even write about them here.  How interesting to experience the same newsroom culture but in a different language.

These days, “crap” is my crutch pseudo-swear word but I am clearly overusing it.  I heard my tween daughter use it casually last week. Crap!

So today my marketing pal, Jeff Willinger, told me to try a made-up swear word that he picked up: “shinnamon”.  WTF kind of word is “shinnamon”?!?!  I told him to try, “Shut the front door!”  But why are we trying to rely on alternatives?  The actual words are implied.

Let’s all try to refrain from using such language.  And don’t curse me out for trying!