Bus Uncle

When Hong Kongers argue in public, it isn't long before the bad language starts to fly.

Before mobile phones with video capabilities, such displays were "had to be there" moments, but now they could end up on the Internet and spread like wildfire [Warning: language - ed.].

From AP:

... one of the most popular movies online is a six-minute film shot apparently with a mobile phone showing a grumpy man scolding a fellow bus rider in Hong Kong for interrupting his phone call.

Bus Uncle, as the film is commonly known, has been viewed nearly 1.7 million times ... spawning spoofs and new slang drawn from the ranting subject's emotionally charged soliloquy.

The grainy film, which apparently takes place on the top level of a double-decker bus, is hilarious for its sheer absurdity and the dramatic twists it takes ...

The film starts out as the protagonist, a middle-aged man, reacts strongly when a young man sitting behind him taps his shoulder to ask him to keep his voice down while talking on the phone.

Loud phone conversations are epidemic in this town. You can't ride a bus or train without someone bellowing into a handset. But most folks just sit there and take it.

"I don't know you. You don't know me. Why do you do this?" the infuriated bus rider says, punctuating the sentence by jabbing his right hand downward in the air.

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

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

It doesn't take long to realise that the older fellow is a mammoth jerk.

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 middle-aged man, who then launches into another round of profanities.

If you take exception to cussing involving one's mother, it would be best not to watch the video with English subtitles.

It still is not clear who shot the film or if the film was staged.

Having witnessed numerous public spectacles such as this, I can attest it wasn't staged. No one could write dialogue as idiotic as that.

The middle-aged man has not been identified, but a man claiming to be the victim of the verbal abuse has been interviewed ...

"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.

He might have changed his mind had the other guy slapped him upside the head.

And had that happened, you can be certain the video would be even more popular.

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