"Grasshopper" as form of address

[Jonathan Lighter]

A fortyish character on the CBS soap opera _The Young and the Restless_ has just said, "Sorry, grasshopper, but good is not what I feel right now."

  Punctilious persons will note the "what" in place of "how," a modern-day "play on syntax" that I won't go into.

  Might as well note for the benefit of future generations that Kwai Chang Caine (young David Carradine) was frequently addressed as "Grasshopper" by his Masters Kan and Po in the ABC TV series _Kung Fu_ (1972-75). He was training to be a Shaolin priest in the Old West with mystical bad-vibe-fighting powers.

  More than you need to know about _Kung Fu_ is here: http://www.kungfu-guide.com/ ,
  including the fact that the entire series is available on DVD.  Old David Carradine now burlesques his most famous role in a pair of commericals for _Yellow Book_, a brand of telephone directory.  In one of these he operates a levitating computer, possibly in Tibet.

  Now to less meaningful scholarship: is there any Chinese-language basis for this use of "Grasshopper" ("young apprentice; religiophilosophical aspirant") ?

  JL


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