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A TikToker has gone viral for flaunting a unique lamp named Gweilo, but the word has a whole different meaning in Chinese and it’s not as innocent as some may believe.
A TikTok user called indysev innocently shared a video on Sunday (8 May 2022) of a stunning new lamp she had bought called a Gweilo. As a fan of interior design, I’m completely jealous of her light/art piece.
A free-standing glowing piece of “cloth”, every Gweilo light is unique as it’s hand sculpted by an artist, according to its creator – Alex Josephson, co-founder of Toronto-based studio Partisans.
Despite its creative style, it’s not the light that’s caught the internet’s eye. No, it’s the meaning indysev was fan-girling over.
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TikTok users cringe at Gweilo light ghost comment
Check out the breath-taking light:
Although we do think the sheet of light mimics a bed sheet ghost costume, the initial meaning of gweilo that springs to mind definitely isn’t ghost – the comments section can’t help but poke fun at the creator’s comment.
“I’m crying, gweilo is not ghost,” one said, while another wrote: “All the Cantonese ppl are CACKLING.”
It looks as though indysev is aware of her mistake as she replied “lol” to the comment: “Someone gonna tell her what gweilo really means orrrrrr just let her know her peace.”
The mistake has circulated to Twitter, so expect a wave of memes from them too.
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What does Gweilo actually mean?
In Cantonese, the term ‘gweilo’ consists of two words that together directly translate to “ghost/devil man”, so indysev is somewhat correct. However, it has another meaning – ‘Westerner’, ‘foreigner’ or ‘Caucasian male’.
The term was previously used as a slur to describe Caucasians, often being used with the word “sei”, meaning dead, so “sei gweilo” means “damn foreigner”, according to Next Shark.
Gweilo is now commonly used in a non-derogatory context to describe Westerners.
The connotations of the meaning, however, vary depending on the individual. In November 2021, Eugene Ho and his girlfriend’s mother were kicked out of a Shaw’s store for calling a Caucasian “gweilo”.
Staff claimed the phrase was “equivalent to the n-word” although Ho defended he “grew up with this term not being a racist one… it just means ‘white guy’ to me”.
The light’s creator – Partisans – is also aware of the term’s double meaning, calling it: “A funny term that describes Westerners. It also means white dragon and white ghost.”
