Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
You're tuned into Roundtable, I'm Steve Hatherly today with Yu Shan and Yu Shun.
Coming up on today's soapbox, a former boss, a social media post, and a legal battle over an age-related word.
Was it really though just about the insult or perhaps something bigger?
Today we'll go to court to find what happens when an insult goes too far.
It is time for this week's soapbox.
It's our segment where we find something that's been circulating online
and it made us feel or made the internet feel a certain kind of way.
We bring in the story, share it with you and then tell you how we feel about it.
Now, this particular story today is an interesting one to me
because it's very culture-specific, Chinese culture-specific about one little word.
Yeah, that's where it all started, isn't it?
I'm starting with it too.
That word that has become surprisingly popular among young people in China lately, "Lao Deng".
Literally, it sounds like a pretty direct insult towards an older person, male particularly.
But online, it has become much more complicated than that.
So what is the actual definition of "Lao Deng"?
Is it like "middle-aged man"?
Kind of, with a condescending filter on a middle-aged man