honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, May 27, 2006

'Bus Uncle' video gets huge online response

By Min Lee
Associated Press

SEE THE VIDEO

www.youtube.com

spacer spacer

A six-minute film showing a grumpy man scolding a fellow Hong Kong bus rider for interrupting his phone call has become one of the most popular videos online.

"Bus Uncle," as the film is commonly known, has been viewed nearly 1.7 million times on Youtube.com. The short segment is the second-most-viewed video on the site in May as of Thursday — spawning spoofs and new slang drawn from the ranting subject's emotionally charged soliloquy.

The grainy film was apparently recorded using a mobile phone. In the video, a young man taps the protagonist, a middle-aged man, on the shoulder to ask him to keep his voice down while talking on the phone.

"I don't know you! You don't know me! Why do you do this?" the middle-aged man says (in Cantonese), while jabbing his right hand in the air.

When the young man, who rarely talks back during the argument, expresses an unwillingness to continue the conversation, the middle-aged man explodes, "This is not resolved! This is not resolved! This is not resolved!" — which has become a catch phrase in Hong Kong.

He goes on to say, "I face pressure. You face pressure. Why did you provoke me?"

In another twist, just when the dispute seems to have ended after the young man apologizes and the two shake hands, the young man takes issue with profanity used by the older man, who then launches into another round of profanities.

The video has inspired numerous spoofs, including a karaoke version and a rap song using the middle-aged man's refrain, "I face pressure. You face pressure." Internet users have added Chinese and English subtitles to the video.

It isn't clear who shot the film and it isn't certain if the film was staged or not. The middle-aged man hasn't been identified, but a man claiming to be the victim of the verbal abuse has been interviewed on Hong Kong's Commercial Radio.

"Why did I just sit there? I paid to be on the bus. You don't think I would get off the bus and waste my money, do you?" said the man, identified only as Alvin.