I found myself in a cab in Minhang this evening. As we pulled out the cab in front of us stopped abruptly. The driver leaned out his window and had this to say:

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Which is about all I could understand. Afterward I tried to get a translation.　The recording at that point is more static than anything else, so you’ll have to do it in your head.

The conversation went on to a discussion about the differences between 闵行话 and downtown 话, which apparently are pretty noticeable to the native Shanghainese. He said that when he’s downtown as soon as he opens his mouth they know he’s from Minhang. I couldn’t get specifics from him, so I tried to do a little digging when I got home.

There’s a book, called 上海西南方言词典 which I’m adding to my list of ones to buy but of which I can’t find any scanned pages online. From what the driver said, the difference is mostly accent. I wasn’t able to articulate any questions on variation in tone or anything of such substance, and it was a short ride anyway so I doubt there would have been much time to figure anything out. That’s why there are books, I suppose.

In fairness this probably shouldn’t be called “Minhang Obscenities” since he may very well not be swearing at the other driver, with whom he was just having a friendly conversation moments before, but I couldn’t think of any better title.