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which chinese insults do you find most offensive?

michael2015 (784 posts) • 0

Why respond to a barb with another barb? Wouldn't the world be a better place if we could defuse confrontations peaceably and instead respond with a kind word?

Miyamoto Musashi (30 posts) • -3
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Dazzer said :

"what? like saying french gf/english gf/american gf."

I dont know if you have noticed that when someones girlfriend is english or american western people dont refer to them by race or nationality:

"wheres your english girlfriend?"
"wheres your american girlfriend?

but if a girl is of non european diaspora heritage, the question is always:

"wheres your chinese girlfriend?"
"wheres your thai girlfirend?"
"wheres your japanese girlfriend?"

This manner of speaking implies that 'chinese girlfriend' is lesser than and different from 'girlfriend'..

ie. shes not really a 'girlfriend' but a 'chinese girlfriend'.

By the same token, I have noticed that, although at times english speakers may say 'frenchman' or 'englishman', when they say 'chinaman' they use a different, more derogatory tone.

The implication is that 'chinaman' is lesser than or different from 'man'. Its the same probem when they use that tone and say 'chinese guy'.

Ive also noticed that when talking about european diaspora heritage people, westeners may say something like 'a french guy' or 'an italian man'...but when they speak of asian heritage people they leave out 'man', saying simply ' a chinese', 'a japanese'. The idea of being less than human is not overtly spoken as in chinese speech ( ni bu shi ren, dongwu ren etc. ) but the meaning is still implied...less than human and not a man.

Also westeners often speak to all non-european disaspora heritage people as if they were children.

However chinese speakers are also directly involved in this type of behaviour when they say all other races are monkeys or animals, which they say often.

dolphin (509 posts) • +2

Miyamoto, may I suggest that you have too many friends in low places? The people I hang out with don’t refer to other human beings as (fill in the blank).

Dazzer (2813 posts) • +1

i have heard people say , this is my british gf several times. same with 3rd party intros like, this is dave, he's from england. both have same context and meaning. by saying it you also save the other person from having to ask the obvious question. if me american and i have abc gf, then i just say, this is my gf, she says this is dave my english bf. it is not racist. i think you are getting your knickers in a twist.

Miyamoto Musashi (30 posts) • -9
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So I guess you are all saying that when I receive 'barbs' I should show kindness and that western people are never disrespectful in china and that calling someone 'farmer' is terrible but calling someone 'monkey' or 'ape' is no problem? Also that the people you hang around with are so gaoji高级, they would never insult someone like that? Also that it is my fault for receiving insults?

I see that there must be 'no problem at all' that can be acknowledged by anyone as usual.

May I ask, do you think it is offensive for beijing professors to call hong kong people 'bastards' and 'dogs on live national t.v as in this video?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=me63GK-Byh8

Also, do you think it is o.k for hong kong people to call people from the mainland 'parasitic locusts' as in this video?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueNr7mfFZu8

GoK Moderator (5096 posts) • +4

Do you think it OK to raise racist, thinly veiled criticism of Chinese culture on a Website, that is no doubt monitored, and could cause trouble for the Website?

alienew (422 posts) • -1

Look, MM, people do these things, yes. There's no point in continuing to do them. Nobody's saying that racism and nationalism don't exist, but to focus on them antagonistically, to the degree that nothing else can be seen, through one's PERSONAL behaviour often merely exaggerates them. Being aware of something abstracted from a larger social environment does not necessarily automatically produce a practical means of opposing it - categorical responses are fine for categorical idealistic responses, but actual situations should be dealt with in their particularity, and some over-wrought sense of one's imagined need to protect oneself doesn't help. I really don't think you are in any particular individual danger. I'm not saying you have to blind yourself and submit to being pushed around, I'm just saying that responses ought to be prioritized, without fear or aggression, according to what the actual results are likely to be.

ASatiricalBloke (103 posts) • 0

As with all aspects of language, insults can be very nuanced and requires an understanding of the culture and context, unless you are a very advanced speaker is very unlikely to fully grasp its true meaning.

Back you your point, insults are by design, meant to be offensive and dehumanizing, otherwise there would be no power in insults. Can you give examples of insults that do not categorize the recipient of the insult as non-human in some way, shape, or form?

So let's recap, you are often confronted by people who insults you on such a frequency that is has become an annoyance. You are so bothered by it that you feel a need to discuss this issue on a forum with strangers while at the same time, seeking advice on a comeback that thus far has eluded you. A comeback that would put the aggressor in his place but at the same time, not escalate the confrontation into a physical one in which you have no confidence that you will win.

Where I come from, we have a name for people like that, PUSSY.

Query, was the preceding insult dehumanizing, or just misogynistic?

alienew (422 posts) • +1

Addition to my last word confusion: I also think that, from any usable common sense perspective, that getting along with people in Kunming is just not that damn hard - you don't have to be provoked all the time, and you shouldn't feel the need to do any provoking.

dolphin (509 posts) • -1

It’s misleading to start a thread about insults and then post links to poltically motivated commentary.

I did see a post on the Beijinger a while back about how much a mainlander hated Hong Kong. It’s sad stuff.

But politics and economics aside, often people are looking for reasons to hate. Ie they are already filled with hatred, so when a political issue comes up, then they use this to justify their hatred and hide their evil black heArts behind a political issue.

And also, don’t forget media is constantly trying to manipulate people too .. who wrote this song about locusts? He was hired by a politician who didn’t get elected? Cry me a river.

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