Today, I learned how to kiss:

.be

I also learned to fear reddit.

Jarvik7 Wrote:Maybe it'll short out the microchip the government implanted in your brain.

What about the nanomachines they injected into my bloodstream? D:

Eikyu Wrote:Today, I learned how to kiss:

.be

I also learned to fear reddit.

oh man. That was unexpected.

Today I learned... telling myself 'I can quit posting at RevTK whenever I want, I just don't want to right now' was a self-deception! Time for forum rehab.

I learned my girlfriend doesn't like being tickled with cold hands.. I mean seriously. she mentally lost it for a moment. Note to self.. don't do it again.

Today I learned that when I tickle Gingerninja's girlfriend, I should make sure my hands are warm.

I don't understand, by 'today', do you mean the day this thread was posted???

Today I learned that you can't trust the Japanese weatherforecast. :mad:
(Well, I guess I knew that before XD)

Today I learned that forum bots are confused about the word today.

captal Wrote:Today I learned that when I tickle Gingerninja's girlfriend, I should make sure my hands are warm.

I agree... wait a minute..!

Today I learned on IRC that Smackle wants me dead.
<@Smackle> AXLEN DIE

Axlen Wrote:Today I learned on IRC that Smackle wants me dead.
<@Smackle> AXLEN DIE

Eh, you're still alive? Meh.

Let Smackle hit you with a snowball in the face instead? In exchange for lifetime drop-dead protection.

Today I learned that some people are willing to be totally racist to get free edamame.

Learned that "me luv you long time" is racist. Not really sure how. Now, feels sorry for the French/Chinese woman who made the line so famous. Not really sure why, either.

Today I learned that Spiderman was an important part of Bible history

kazelee Wrote:Learned that "me luv you long time" is racist. Not really sure how.

It's a racist caricature based on stereotypes about Asian prostitutes.

Oblio Wrote:It's a racist caricature based on stereotypes about Asian prostitutes.

You've given me the is. Not the how.

kazelee Wrote:

Oblio Wrote:It's a racist caricature based on stereotypes about Asian prostitutes.

You've given me the is. Not the how.

Read this article for a good explanation: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1591868...elly.jhtml

kazelee Wrote:Learned that "me luv you long time" is racist. Not really sure how. Now, feels sorry for the French/Chinese woman who made the line so famous. Not really sure why, either.

To many it feels racist in the sense that it's widely associated with a cultural stereotype: impoverished Vietnamese girl prostituting herself, exploited/raped during wartime (in the film the quote's taken from and of course the whole sex tourism thing in Southeast Asian and other areas) and mocked and parodied for having poor English and desperately offering herself to the American male, repeated ad nauseam in varying ways, often by racists, at least in my experience.

Cue application of Krugman/Kristof's econ101 sweatshop argument to sex tourism. ^_^

Bonus: http://www.sunypress.edu/p-4964-ideologi...tting.aspx

See also: 'Engrish', 'Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra', and 'Two Wongs Make it White' (Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts)

It's not rocket science, pretending to be, through association, a negative stereotype through quotes and stereotyped language, be it broken English, street slang associated with African Americans, a lisp and catchphrases taken from Bravo, it is offensive to many, even if you don't mean it in a racist way.

If you want to get a taste of the context-specific mechanics of it which instantly transcend your intent, to help you understand how it applies to people that aren't you or see how it bleeds into neutral contexts, go up to any Asian female you don't know, regardless of nationality or lineage, and say 'Oooh me love you long time'. Let us know how it works out. You'll be able to differentiate whether they're offended by the racial undertones or the sexual proposition (even though the latter feeds into the former) by the level and type of arse-kicking you receive, methinks, though if necessary, to get a full gradient of nuances, you could wait till their friends/family are around--their words as they pound you will surely explain why they're offended.

And of course, if they aren't offended, that means no one can find it offensive/has any reason to find it offensive, so hopefully someone can settle the issue for everyone by saying they or someone they know isn't bothered by it.

Whew, think I predicted every response. Have I? ;p

nest0r Wrote:Whew, think I predicted every response. Have I?

I'm blinded to the racist under- (or over-) tones by the grammatical problems in "me love you long time". The corrected version "I will love you for a long time" sounds rather pleasant.

..except it's a reference to Vietnamese prostitutes (and used to refer to any and all Asian women as cheap whores), and not a simple expression of affection.

The tendency for people to mock foreigners with less than perfect English accents/grammar is entirely beside the point. I would have thought that more people here, being second language learners, would be more sensitive to that kind of taunting as well though.

This is a phrase that is constantly thrown at American females of Asian descent today that only serves to demean them. It effectively alienates them and turns them cheap.

Jarvik7 Wrote:..except it's a reference to Vietnamese prostitutes (and used to refer to any and all Asian women as cheap whores), and not a simple expression of affection.

The tendency for people to mock foreigners with less than perfect English accents/grammar is entirely beside the point. I would have thought that more people here, being second language learners, would be more sensitive to that kind of taunting as well though.

I thought it was obvious I was being sharply sarcastic. Perhaps I should have included [sarcasm] tags.

I've never heard anyone say this in real life, only on TV. Racism in the UK tends to be directed towards immigrants from the Indian subcontinent and eastern europeans. If anyone ever did say "me love you long time" everyone in the room would cringe, and some people might pull them up on it, me included. I think most people on the forums would feel the same, so I don't know how you get the impression that people here aren't sensitive to this kind of abuse.

IceCream: Sadly I learned that a long time ago.

In the anti-whaling comments on Youtube etc the Japanese fishermen are always "gooks who need to get nuked again".

IceCream Wrote:i sat there for ages going... "but what has edamame got to do with a line from a war film about vietnam? what a weird promotion". lol. i had no idea some bright sparks actually think it's a good idea to say this to any east asian woman. Today i learnt that people can't even apply stereotypes to the correct group.

I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that Huntington Beach is pretty close to Garden Grove, which has a huge Vietnamese community. I'd wager, then, that the default "Asian" stereotype in the area is Vietnamese, much in the same way that it tends to be Chinese in the rest of the country. Like when people go around calling food from any part of Asia "Chinese food".

Not that it makes it any better.