Sea turtle

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Apparently "haigui" 海龜 or 海龟 = "sea turtle" is homonymous with
"haigui" 海歸 or 海归 which is an abbreviation of "haiwai guilai" 海外歸
来 or 海外归来 = "returning from overseas" or so ... that is, if I'm
understanding this stuff properly.

Here are a few links:

http://my.backchina.com/chineseforum/0/message-345251-page-1.html

http://blog.livedoor.jp/panyou/archives/4154110.html

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/zhang/2009/01/04/%E2%80%9Cbe-or-not-to-be%E2%80%9D-is-a-question/

Whether the collocation "sea turtle" is naturally used in this sense in
English ... even in the English spoken by Chinese (in China or overseas)
... I don't know. Generally I see it in quotes, as a gloss or calque.

As shown in the links above there are other expressions apparently
modeled on "haigui", such as "haidai" ("kelp") apparently referring to a
returnee to the PRC waiting for a job ... again, if I'm not mistaken.

-- Doug Wilson

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