I Am Not Chinese!!!!

Noozan

Wig wrote:

I always ask where someone is from, and if that doesn't work (i.e they say I'm from London) I'll ask where their parents/grand parents are from.

Not having a go at you Wig ....depending on what mood I'm in, this sort of question sometimes annoys me.

"So where are you from?"
"Cornwall"
"Cornwall?"
"Yes, I was born and raised in Cornwall"
"Oh right...Cornwall. So where are you from really?"
"C-o-r-n-w-a-l-l, you know the little tip that sticks out on the southwest of England"
"No, I meant where are your parents from?"

:mad: Wel,, why didn't you ask in the first place? Do I look like a mind reader?

Right, I'm away to have a cup of tea and calm down now

margaret_3

chaching wrote:

People's ignorance really bugs me.

Do they think that China is the ONLY oriental place on Earth?!

HEeeeellllloooooooooo.......there is also Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia etc etc....

Soooooo STOP labelling every oriental person CHINESE!! :mad:

I dont speak their language. I certainly dont come from that country. (BTW i have no problem with China or Chinese ppl FYI)

So UNLESS you know for sure what country I (or any other oriental person) come from....DONT call me (us) Chinese! We PREFER oriental. Now I cant always tell from looking at an oriental person, what part of Asia they come from so i dont expect anyone else to either. But for goodness sake, just go with the term Oriental as opposed to Chinese.

Now to all the people that dont want to offend oriental ppl....stop refering to us as "That chinese friend of yours", "the chinese girl/boy over there"....P**S Off....i aint chinese. :eek:

I appreciated this post, chaching, as you will realise that a lot of us feel just as you do and we can identify with it. I'm Scottish and I'm sick of all the labels---stingy being the main one. Even a friend said, "Margaret isn't a typical Scot. She isn't mean!" :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
I had a friend when I was at school and she came from Thailand and people were always referring to her as 'your !!!!!! friend.' It offended me much more than her as she had become reconciled to it, but it's something that I never forgot!
I'm sure you feel better having got that off your chest chaching. :j
Margaret

Trow

Being scottish I get the 'you are English' thing the whole time. Got it from an Englishman who basically said 'yeah, but its the same thing really' - when I asked him what he thought about being called Welsh - he got the point.

Having said that - sometimes people abroad do differentiate - my partner was at a border with some very intense looking guards once, when he did an aid visit to Albania. They looked most unimpressed by Mr "Eeenglish" but were much more amenable once he persuaded them that he was Scottish.

(This is not a slight on the English, just an observation that some people abroad do know the difference)

Murtle

I'm English cause I've lived here most of my life! So I am told...

and that's fine with me...it doesn't keep me awake at night wondering what people think about where I come from etc.

I also MUST vote conservative as I speak well...

assumptions people make are funny to say the least, and if you are really offended by something, politely tell that person. You'd be surprised at how shocked they'd be.

I do wonder if the UK is becoming too PC over terms of calling people things??!?!!?!?!?!?

Poppy9

Wig wrote:

I always ask where someone is from, and if that doesn't work (i.e they say I'm from London) I'll ask where their parents/grand parents are from.

Why do you always ask where someone is from. Do you have to know them quite well to ask this so they won't be offended or would you ask at first meeting. Do you only ask if they look foreign?

I do object on forms, be it job application, tax returns etc being asked for my ethnic origin for monitoring purposes. I really don't see that's relevant to them. One of my BIL was born in India so his children are of mixed race. I was helping one with a job application form and it had this Ethic origin form on the rear. I didn't feel comfortable asking him what he thought is Ethic origin was. He said when he has come across this before he either ticks white or other. He doesn't really know what to put nor does he care. As far as he is concerned he is English (born in England) but raised in Wales (some redemption there ). Some people guess the kids (well adults now) are of mixed race as they look a bit exotic but the funny thing is the boy is identical in features, skin tone etc to a cousin who is not of mixed race as my father was naturally quite dark skin. My BIL feels that all this aggro over racism is crap. He thinks that immigrants are at fault as they do not attempt to intergrate. One person from a Racial Equality Board met him in a restaurant and started giving him a line about how hard life was for the indians in the City etc. My BIL told him where to get off as he is of the opinion that racists are in the minority and do not influence most people. Yes people are curious of his origin initially but that is only in wanting to know more about him and other ways of life. Scots, Irish, Welsh all meet this everytime they travel to England. People aren't putting you down they are just geniunely interested.

Wig

Noozan wrote:

Not having a go at you Wig ....

I know. But I would never question and say those things you example.

I would only ask this of someone who speaks with an accent, i.e. English is not their first language. I would then never say..."No where are you from really" If they have said London I accept that, but if I am interested I will probe further to find where their family has come from.... "Oh, so your parents or grandparents emigrated here from where then?" I see nothing wrong with this. You can then ask if they have ever been to that country, because quite often I have been there and we might be able to chat about it.

chaching

hey there WIG,

Wig wrote:

OP,

What you say is fine, but, from your list

Vietamese fine
Japanese fine
and the others fine except....
Hong Kong, AFAIK there is no official title such as Hong Konger or Hong Kongese. HK is certainly multi cultural/ethnic but the overwhelming majority are Chinese or Han Chinese, their language Cantonese is spoken in southern China.

So *if* you are from HK and your family is native to HK then I feel you are being pedantic, because like it or not your ethnicity is chinese.

Just so you know I'm not from HK either. And I was just listing the countries to show everyone that CHINA is NOT the only country in Asia. And of course ppl from HK are refered to as chinese. Like i said earlier, I'm writing from my point of view and of all those around me who feel the same way. And no i'm not of chinese heritage. But I guess if we go back zillions of years, we all have the same ancestors etc etc. :cool:

My whole point is don't assume we are all Chinese. Some ppl prefer oriental, some prefer Asian (Cos obviously these are Asian Countries) etc etc.

Wig wrote:

OP,

I agree it is stupid and wrong to refer to a Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Thai or Laotian as "chinese" and it is something I don't do. I always ask where someone is from, and if that doesn't work (i.e they say I'm from London) I'll ask where their parents/grand parents are from.

Thats nice to know

chaching

Haha.....earthling...haha.

I'm sure terminology is always going to change over time. It's always gonna come down to personal preference...just in my case i need to carry a parrot around on my shoulder cos i'm getting bored with having to repeat myself. Maybe i should start telling ppl im from Mars....

IvanOpinion wrote:

Chaching
You are definitely not going to like DWs grandmother then ... she used to be very polite and talk about people from the far east as 'oriental' but her brain was never quite with it because she kept talking about 'the ornamentals' .. don't be offended she also talked about her 'ulsters', thought the army was full of 'shoulders' and she was 'registrated' blind.

The only issue I have is that 'oriental' may be todays PC word but tomorrow that may change to something else. We just can't keep up ... whats wrong with the generic term 'earthling'.

Ivan

Poppy9

David Icke has beaten you to it. According to him only black african people are true Earthlings. White people are from Mars. Something to do with our natural body clocks. Blacks are in sync with the Earth, White people with Mars. Can't remember what he said about all the other races. Also white people have been genetically bred as originally we were giants!

Wig

Didn't he also say that Blair and Bush are lizards in drag?