Originally Posted by
anacapamalibu
Xiaojie means miss or young lady. Its also appropriate to reference a female server, such as in a restaurant, as xiaojie. "surname" +xiaojie = miss "surname".
It was originally considered a derogatory name in south China, however with the
spread of mandarin its no longer considered offensive.
Its considerably more appropriate than
Moondog's suggestion of
meinu which translates to " hey ...good looking".
My wife would probably like that.
I've not been clear on xiaojie. I knew it meant "miss," and I used to use it in restaurants to get a waitress' attention. My wife told me it had a slang connotation, but I still hear it used quite often. Aside from the street meaning, is using "xiaojie" like using "garcon" (literally, "boy") in a restaurant in France?