Ok, I need some help here. I work for a Chinese company where most of the people are Chinese, as in 'from China', not 'from Nebraska' (like one Chinese person I know. I didn't even know they HAD Chinese people in Nebraska. They must've gotten 'em on eBay.). As a result, a lot of Chinese gets spoken around the office. I'm cool with that; I love languages, and I figure I'll pick up some useful phrases, like "Thank you" and "This orange chicken is delicious". But there's this one word or phrase that gets spoken all the time that really has me vexed: nigga. They say nigga EVERYWHERE. In the breakroom, in the hallway, in the lobby, in the bathroom...just nigga nigga nigga all over the place. Usually it comes in pairs, like "nigga, nigga'". I'm not offended - sure, at first, I wondered about it, but it gets said far too much for it to be a racial slur. Either that, or they REALLY don't like me. But I need to warn them or something, you know? If I was there, and I was saying 'Holla' repeatedly, only to have it mean "Your mother charges $50 dollars for handjobs, but only $25 for a hummer" in Chinese, I'd want to know. If anyone speaks Chinese, let me know what this means. I'm curious beyond measure. I think it's Mandarin. Or Cantonese. Whichever one that says 'nigga' a lot. Peace. EDIT: Ok, I talked to a co-worker a few minutes ago, and the following things happened:

1. She got very, very, very embarrassed.
2. She blushed in a way that frightened me, and made me want to get her some water, or write the word "STOP" across her forehead.
3. She explained that in her usage, it means "your" or "yours", or even "you know?" So, it gets said a lot.
4. She told me I'm not the first person to ask about this, but I am the first person to laugh. Damn, there's some uptight people in the world.
5. I think I made a friend.
6. I decided to get it tattooed on my arm, in Chinese characters.