Idiomatic Cantonese translation: Ugly American

Question

In English, "Ugly American" is a pejorative stereotype for an American. It basically implies they are loud, arrogant, and ethnocentric.

As I am building my family's cookbook, I find recipes that claim to be "Cantonese" or "Sichuan". When I research them, however, it turns out they've been hopelessly mangled with ingredient and cooking technique changes.

I want to include these in the cookbook because they are delicious but I want to indicate that I know they are a bastardization of the real thing. My solution is to call the dish, for example, "Taco al grosero americano" ("Taco in the style of a rude American").

What would you use for Cantonese?

The best I can come up with is 粗魯的美國人的蘿蔔糕.

Thank you!

Answer 1

As a Cantonese and a former restaurant employee, my suggestions are:

美式蘿蔔糕 = American style white radish cake (a more formal name)

老美蘿蔔糕 or 美國佬蘿蔔糕 = American's radish cake (a more casual name, less respectful), you don't have to add 'rude' because there is already a stereotype for Americans -- they are arrogant

老美 sounds like 鹵味 which is a sound-alike of a swear (your mother )

Answer 2

What would you use for Cantonese?

a few choices:

洋基

a transliteration of “yankee”; or,

花旗

an old term for “america”, roughly, since early 19th century

have fun :)

Answer 3

Since it is a "bastardization", may I suggest 杂种 蘿蔔糕?

杂种, (meaning hybrid or mixed heritage), in Cantonese has a more "playful" connotation which should cause your readers to do a double take.