Bing Goei Show: Slang and Cultural Expressions

Expression	Approx. time	Explanation
President Sukarno	1:15	President of Indonesia after independence from the Netherlands
Suriname	1:55	Dutch colony on northeast coast of South America
ethnically Chinese	2:25	Chinese by race (and maybe upbringing) but not by birthplace
resilient	2:50	able to recover from setbacks or problems
dispossession	3:00	having something taken away from you
Dutch colony	4:00	territory under the political control of the Netherlands (as opposed to local control)
immigration quotas	4:25	set limits on immigration numbers
stipulation	4:27	condition or requirement set for an agreement
Lo and behold!	4:45	“Lo and behold, you ended up in West Michigan!”  This is an old-fashioned expression.  It means something surprising or amazing happened.  It was surprising that this Chinese family having lived in Indonesia and the Netherlands had suddenly come to non-diverse West Michigan.
deacons	5:10	In Bing’s church, these are congregation members who are elected to make spiritual leadership decisions.  In some Christian denominations, they may be called elders.  Depending on the denomination, they might be appointed from the congregation or may have spiritual training and official status (below a priest).
poignant story	6:24	moving, sad, or touching story
(CRC) synod	6;36	As a denomination, the CRC has 300,000 members across the U.S. and Canada.  A synod is an umbrella advisory council within a denomination.
stoic	7:04	trying to hide your emotion, not to show everyone that you are suffering
janitor	7:20	employee responsible for maintenance and cleaning of a building
jumped through all the hoops	7:44	Bing’s dad jumped through all the hoops.  He thought all his retraining was a normal part of the U.S. educational system. In the circus, animals are trained to perform tricks, including jumping through hoops, sometimes ones that are lit on fire.  The tricks are not logical, but the animals have to do what the circus master tells them to do.
Don’t create waves.	8:25	not making a fuss, problems, unwanted attention   (Allusion to sailing: Don’t rock the boat.)
clichés	8:29	tired, old sayings that are said reactively, without thinking
Rep. Gerald Ford	8:36	Gerald Ford represented West Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949-1973.  He was named Vice President and later President of the U.S. when scandals forced the resignations of Spiro Agnew and Richard Nixon.
commensurate with	8:58	equal or corresponding to
humiliation	9:52	making someone feel low, embarrassed, unimportant
speaks for itself	10:15	is obvious or clear, without need for explanation
Institutes for Healing Racism	10:19	http://www.grandrapids.org/institute-for-healing-racism
West Michigan Asian American Association	10:22	http://www.wm-aaa.org
Partners for Racism-Free Community	10:25	http://prfc-gr.org
CRC Commission on Race Relations	10:28	http://www.crcna.org/race
incubation	11:00	support services and space for small start-up businesses
recruit and retain	11:29	When looking to hire new people into jobs, HR officers have to attract workers to come live in the area (recruitment).  If the new workers do not feel welcome, they will move away.  It is equally important for leaders of companies and communities to make the new workers and their families feel like they belong (retention).
International Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence	11:39	ICEE: www.thegoeicenter/icee
unveiling (not highlighted here)	12:00	publicly showing, uncovering, or revealing for the first time
International Pavilion	12:38	building which houses social and business support systems for international students, workers, and visitors
think tank	13:20	organization providing research and advocacy work for policy and strategy around issues as education, culture, politics, business, military, or technology
flat world	13:24	the view that the world is a level playing surface for global commerce (cf. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman)
1. higher learning	13:29	must have great universities
2. entrepreneurship	13:33	must welcome creative business solutions
3. welcoming community	13:37	must include everyone, not allow discrimination or segregation of any groups
(unveiling)	13:58	((publicly showing, uncovering, or revealing for the first time))