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Traumatic events in human history have always spurred new terminology.

With the assassination of the American President John F. Kennedy came the term "Grassy Knoll", which means a hidden plots or subterfuge.

After a shifty 2000 election in the US, the term "Hanging Chad" arose from the ballots that were partially punched but not counted.

The recent earthquake catastrophe has given rise to the new term - "Quake Lake", observes Opposite Ends of China blogger Michael.

"Quake Lake", which Michael deduced was generated by a journalist from Xinhua, refers to the several new lakes that have been created by the violent tectonic shifting.

Since its initial use, the word has spread through the newswire, adapted by both Chinese and foreign journalists alike.

"I can't think of any other event that took place in a non-English speaking country that so quickly produced a new English term," he writes.

Don't bank on it

One thing fairly common in the West they don't have in China are joint bank accounts for married couples, observes a very married Feds on his blog China Segment (http://krisfedorak.com/china/).

This has left both Feds and his wife a little confused as to what should be done.

Traditionally, Shanghai women would control the purse strings in the relationship. Whoever earned the money (traditionally it was the male), would turn it over to the wife and she would choose how much to save and how much to distribute as spending money.

"I am not a Shanghainese man," Feds writes.

Are you being served?

After returning from a recent trip from the United States Lee (www.leeinchina.com) noticed a major change in his attitudes toward the wait staff in the States.

Before moving to China, Lee recalls having a true appreciation for the attentive server, someone who would stop by the table frequently to check if he had everything he needed.

This, of course, is not how the system works in China, which is something most Westerners have a hard time adjusting to.

While eating in a restaurant in China, it is commonplace for the patron to simply call out "fu wu yuan" - which translates to "service person" - before someone comes over to the table. Considering most restaurants employ about as many servers as they have tables, it's usually no problem to get service right away.

When eating in a US restaurant recently Lee noticed the server continued to stop by his table, as they were trained to do, asking him if he needed anything.

In his pre-China days, this was the type of service he expected and the type he would want - but after China he simply wanted to tell the server to go away and that if he needed anything he would just holler.

"There are many differences between Chinese and American culture. In this case, the Chinese way is better," Lee writes.

(China Daily 06/13/2008 page19)