But unlike merci or gracias, "ni hao" has developed a sinister association in my head because I have it abruptly thrown at me by strangers who clearly do not speak Mandarin.
In "Separated at Birth," a doll-like example fabricated from an old flag, powerful, often sinister mental associations are presented in a adjacent flag-covered small book.
The Latin for right is dexter, from which we get the word dextrous, but for left – sinister – came associations of evil and the unlucky, with sinister witch burnings or other unsavoury practices and prejudices.
I said I would like her and as many of her colleagues who felt so inclined to appear in the film, then set about rewriting a number of scenes so that they could be played out in the square in front of that strangely cheerful, yet sinister by association, pink presidential palace, the Casa Rosada.
"Six" is a word with sinister-sounding consonants, and wicked cultural associations -- would it be a huge jump to consider it akin to the sometimes socially shunned figure of a flirtatious vixen?
