Badminton in the Park

This morning, my ladyfriend and I hit the park for some badminton action. But I forgot that, being a local celebrity, things wouldn't be so easy at a public park. We were quickly separated as the old guys wanted to take their shot playing the 老外 (lao wai, meaning "old foreigner" is either a semi-derogatory or mildy affectionate term for a non-Chinese person) and the old women pulled her away to ask questions about me/us.

For those who don't know, the parks in China are full of old people. They go there to play badminton, taking dancing classes, calligraphy, fly kites, work out on the playground - including hanging upside down on the monkey bars -, and even sword fighting. It's really funny to see for the first time, but after a while I've grown an admiration for it; old people should continue to be active.

A question for the masses: ping pong in America is named after 乒乓 (ping pang) in China. So how the heck did we get the name for badminton? In Mandarin, it's called 羽毛球 (yu mao qiu). Badminton is confusing even for English, do you or do you not pronounce the n? I usually don't, for whatever it's worth.

So eventually we were able to procure a court, but not before I got served by some seniors:

More to come tomorrow,
Stephen "Scuba" Lauer