So I’m a gangster now

Recently I was sharing stories with a local acquaintance, and she asked to see a photo of my scooter.

“Whaaaa!” she exclaimed, as I found one on my phone.

“You’re a bā jiā jiǔ! [Pause…] Do you know bā jiā jiǔ?”

Indeed, I do know bā jiā jiǔ. But I was surprised she said that. Because bā jiā jiǔ is Taiwanese slang for “gangster”…

8+9

In Mandarin Chinese:

• Eight is pronounced bā
• Plus is pronounced jiā
• Nine is pronounced jiǔ

So bā jiā jiǔ literally means “8+9”. But how does it also mean “gangster”?

The term comes from the similar-sounding phrase Bā Jiā Jiàng (八家將), which directly translates to “Eight Generals”.

These are traditional religious performance troupes that wear elaborate face paint and armor-like costumes.

Here’s a (copyright-free) photo of some of them:

Over time, the Eight Generals have become associated with Taiwanese criminal gangs. This is because, counter-intuitively, gangs often get involved with temples to enhance their social capital. And temple-based activities can include joining the Eight Generals.

Meanwhile, back in the early days of internet slang, people began writing Eight Generals as 8+9:

• The 8 stands for eight (bā)
• The + stands in for jiā (家), which is pronounced the same way as the word for “plus”
• The 9 replaces the last word, jiàng (將), as a kind of visual pun

Then, because of the sometime-connection between Eight Generals and gangs, over time 8+9 became shorthand for “gangster” as well.

But why did my acquaintance say that I—a cautious, law-abiding, peace-loving scooter owner who’s never had a speeding ticket—am a bā jiā jiǔ?

Ironically, it all comes down to safety

Being risk-averse, I intentionally bought a scooter with:

• ABS brakes
• Traction control
• Always-on LED lights

And I bought a full-face helmet for the same reason.

That’s also why my partner recently took me to a local (non-gangster) temple to pray for motorcycle safety—a ritual that included tying this ribbon to my handlebars for ongoing divine protection:

But it turned out that my safety-based decisions were unexpectedly gangster-forward…

My SYM MMBCU scooter, being larger and more powerful than the most common class of scooters in Taiwan, is apparently popular with gangsters.

So too, are full-face helmets.

And ribbons from a temple.

Put these things together and I have, apparently, for all intents and purposes, when riding with my full-face helmet closed so the people around me can’t see my foreign face, become a Taiwanese gangster.

I asked my partner and friends about this.

Almost universally, they said “I hadn’t thought about that… but yeah.”

An unexpected benefit

I’ve since hypothesized people may give me more space on the road if they think I’m dangerous.

My friends seem to agree:

I’m living in a (safety-conscious) gangster’s paradise.