250

I'm sitting here attempting to do my homework for Chinese when I come across the Chinese phrase "二百五" and it sends me into a fit of laughter. it literally means 250 but it's implication is "idiot". I think I started laughing cuz every time I hear it or remember it I think of the one time I heard someone say it during a meeting but they literally meant the number... and I was laughing hysterically and got everyone around me laughing at it. haha so, here's the story!

it was Dec/Jan(?) of the first school year I worked in China and I was attending a meeting with all the Chinese teachers at the school (yeah, that means I'd been there for less than 6 months and I was sitting in a full day meeting that was being held in all Chinese and I was understanding large portions of what was going on). they were discussing how we could get more students in the school and what not... including better students. the principal said our goal was to get "二百五学生" (250 students) and I started laughing and said to my friend sitting next to me... "we already have that!" and he started laughing and repeated "二百五". next thing I know, all the people around me are giggling about it. and then the principal started laughing. it was really funny.

ever since then, the phrase "二百五" throws me into fits of laughter. :)