“This Is Taiwan”: A Dangerous Taiwanese Excuse

A few months have passed since I wrote “It’s Our Culture” – Taiwan’s Go-To Excuse, but a friend of mine the other night brought it up and made an interesting point: before “It’s our culture” is uttered, “This is Taiwan” is sure to escape their lips first. As I stated in my other piece, “It’s Our Culture” is often said […]

“It’s Our Culture” – Taiwan’s Go-To Excuse

Every culture has it’s throwaway language. The English language, for example, explains away many things with the word “Whatever.” Taiwanese often use the Chinese phrases “There is no reason why” and “There is no solution” in similar ways. They all essentially mean “I’ve got nothing for you; I’m done talking about this.” But when it […]