Blind Chinamen

Xie   Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:37 am GMT
Russians read my name better than you do.

It's going to be stupid, admins, because its name is wrong right from the start.
SJF   Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:44 am GMT
<<It means men who are from China. There's nothing discriminatory about it. >>
Now listen,I know this very clearly,it's an insulting saying of Chinese just like nigger and Jap.
I guess most of the members of this forum are westerners and maybe they don't really care about the orient.
Some months ago, there was a topic about tibetan and the writer's name is "free tibet",I don't think I need to introduce "free tibet" to you,I just know that no political issue is allowed to be discussed here,but what made me feel uncomfortable is the moderator didn't delete that,nor lock that discussion. But if any topic about German is related to Nazi,I'm very sure it'll be removed or at least locked by the moderator.
I am not complaining,because I know my mother China has not been strong enough that Chinese people can be respected even in this forum.And I know too that today and at least in 20 years, north america,west europe and Japan will be the three economic giants in this world,which means the languages spoken in these areas will be respected and learned more.I know this very well and I can accept this too.All I want to say is that the developing countries and their languages and their cultures canNOT be insulted nor ignored.You may not respect China,but don't use "Chinamen", you may not like the so-called "evil communist",but don't let the separatists shout here.
If you think I've gone too far,I feel sorry for what I wrote.
Guest   Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:49 am GMT
I don't get it. Please explain why it is offensive?

Chinaman - man from China
Frenchman - man from France
Englishman - man from England
Welshman - man from Wales
Scotsman - man from Scotland

So why not Chinaman?

Hmm, there is a small anomaly, because it should be 'Chineseman' to be like the rest, but I think it's of no consequence.
Xie   Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:49 am GMT
哈哈, 我也明白什麼叫做選擇性尊重
Q.E.D.   Fri Jun 13, 2008 8:25 pm GMT
>>Well, there must exist a unique best approximation... just project the >>particular Chinese phenomes onto an orthonormal basis for the >>phenom-space of English.

That was a nice stroke, so to speak, although I can't figure where Hilbert should be placed in this context.

I always found very interesting that former and actual socialist countries (myself being born and raised under that unfortunate regime) instill in their citizens these concepts of respect, pride, nationalism, chauvinism, etc. Social engineering at work, folks, things are bad because the foreigners, the history, the geopolitical situation and anything else but a bunch of greedy incompetents with an oversized ego that throw their citizens in poverty, lack of civism and imagination. And yes, don't forget about those foreigners who don't respect us....

However, racism works in both ways, don't you agree (foreign devils sounds familiar to anyone not Asian)?

BTW. Brennus, I would love to see what you do with such rich material for reasearch here....

Q.E.D.