You Tubby

No, me tubby...

 

Joe Gresh and others capturing video in Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius

The question is:  Why "You Tubby" instead of a simple "YouTube" for the title?   The answer comes from a meeting during a visit to the Zongshen plant in Chongqing. It's explained in my book, 5000 Miles at 8000 RPM...

The marketing managers entered the room, including one who smiled at me and said “ah, You Tubby, You Tubby…”

I didn’t know what to say.  I looked at my belly.  I guess I was a few pounds overweight.  Well, okay, I’m fat.  I just didn’t expect anybody to be so blunt about it.

“I saw you. You Tubby,” he said again.  “I saw you on You Tubby.”

Ah, yes. YouTube.  Or, as my new friend called it, YouTubby.

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not making fun of how the Chinese speak English.  The Chinese learn English in high school, and they speak English way better than we speak Chinese.  And there is that nonsensical silent “e” on the end of YouTube (something we do a lot of in the English language).  It’s an entirely logical phonetic pronunciation.  You-Tub-e. Of course.

The Zongshen marketing exec was referring, of course, to the video I did on the blue EPA test bike.  That particular YouTube video has had a ton of hits, and even though officially there’s no YouTube in China, my Zongshen marketing friend had seen the video.  Many people have.  We did that video in one take with no script; it was just sort of a quickie thing to explain the bike.  At the time, it was the only English language video that described all of the RX3 features, and it sure made the rounds.  I have had people approach me at motorcycle events because they’ve seen me in it, and it’s still pulling hits.  I’m a star.  A tubby one, but a star nonetheless.

Joe Berk