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News & ArtsWednesday, November 24, 2010
Chow Jerro There!
Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 10:45 AM
This popped up when a friend Googled a jello recipe this morning:
Everyone's a rittle bit lacist, as the song goes, but... man.
2
Ugh - the graphic style makes me suspect this came out around the same time as Mickey Rooney's indelibly fucked-up performance as Truman Capote's Mr. Yunioshi in Blake Edwards' Breakfast at Tiffany's.
5
I'm more interested in which Googled Jello recipe this person decided to whip up, on the fly, for Thanksgiving.
6
The Chinese had spoons for thousands of years while Westerners were still using their hands to eat.
8
I don't understand how this is racist. Everybody knows Chinese-type babies have a voracious appetite for glape jerro.
Also that if it weren't for us white people they would all have starved to death due to their hilariously primitive eating tools and poor eyesight.
I learned all this from a pamphlet somebody handed me outside of a Toby Keith concert.
Also that if it weren't for us white people they would all have starved to death due to their hilariously primitive eating tools and poor eyesight.
I learned all this from a pamphlet somebody handed me outside of a Toby Keith concert.
9
oh lord. is he really making a jello mold for thanksgiving? will he be offended if the kids wind up playing with it in the snow?
10
rofffffl
Realize this is from the era where those red commie bastards were still thought to be pretty evil.
A baby could never handle chopsticks in the first place, anyway. It's still hilarious!
Realize this is from the era where those red commie bastards were still thought to be pretty evil.
A baby could never handle chopsticks in the first place, anyway. It's still hilarious!
12
right, right, a "friend." and i'm the freakin' easter bunny.
enjoy your jello/fruit/coolwhip mold, Dan.
enjoy your jello/fruit/coolwhip mold, Dan.
15
I don't think it's racist. It's cute.
Chopsticks are nationalistic. Forks and spoons simply work better.
No, I'm not being sarcastic.
I don't think it's racist. It's cute.
Chopsticks are nationalistic. Forks and spoons simply work better.
No, I'm not being sarcastic.
17
Racist? This is one of the most culturally sensitive ads I've ever seen! Where can I buy one of those babies?
18
@17-- First step, become a famous actor.
Besides, that's nothin': http://www.cracked.com/article/182_8-rac…
Besides, that's nothin': http://www.cracked.com/article/182_8-rac…
21
The Daily Show had this commercial in one of their segments a couple of years back, along with some other racist stuff:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-au…
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-au…
22
The Daily Show had this commercial in one of their segments a couple of years back, along with some other racist stuff:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-au…
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-au…
23
He didn't really say 'jerro', though, did he? It sounded like 'jello' to me.
If any of you are actually Chinese I'd really like to hear how you see it.
If any of you are actually Chinese I'd really like to hear how you see it.
24
Chakolate: Chinese speakers do not hear any distinction between L and R because in Chinese they are members of the same phoneme. Only a person who spoke Chinese AND another language from birth (a language which distinguishes between L and R) would be able to tell "jello" from "jerro".
It may sound incomprehensible to you, but there are phonemes which are the same in English that are differentiated in other languages, too. For example, we use the phoneme "T" to represent two different sounds--in the words "ton" (aspirated Tʰ) and "stun" (unaspirated T⁼)--but they are part of the same English phoneme. In other languages, these two T sounds are members of different phonemes, and they might think English speakers stupid for not hearing the difference. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspiration_… : In many languages, such as the Chinese languages... Korean, Thai, and Ancient Greek, [p⁼ t⁼ k⁼] etc. and [pʰ tʰ kʰ] etc. are different phonemes altogether).
But we're not stupid as English speakers, neither are Chinese speakers. While everyone is born with the ability to distinguish between every phoneme on the planet, this ability starts to deteriorate immediately once the child starts hearing his/her native language spoken, and evaporates altogether before long. (more source: http://www.indiana.edu/~hlw/PhonProcess/… : One well-known example of this phenomenon is the distinction between [r] and [l], a phonemic distinction in English, but not in Japanese, Lingala, Inuktitut, or many other languages. For many speakers of languages like these, the ability to hear the distinction is lost.)
Ain't linguistics cool?
More...
It may sound incomprehensible to you, but there are phonemes which are the same in English that are differentiated in other languages, too. For example, we use the phoneme "T" to represent two different sounds--in the words "ton" (aspirated Tʰ) and "stun" (unaspirated T⁼)--but they are part of the same English phoneme. In other languages, these two T sounds are members of different phonemes, and they might think English speakers stupid for not hearing the difference. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspiration_… : In many languages, such as the Chinese languages... Korean, Thai, and Ancient Greek, [p⁼ t⁼ k⁼] etc. and [pʰ tʰ kʰ] etc. are different phonemes altogether).
But we're not stupid as English speakers, neither are Chinese speakers. While everyone is born with the ability to distinguish between every phoneme on the planet, this ability starts to deteriorate immediately once the child starts hearing his/her native language spoken, and evaporates altogether before long. (more source: http://www.indiana.edu/~hlw/PhonProcess/… : One well-known example of this phenomenon is the distinction between [r] and [l], a phonemic distinction in English, but not in Japanese, Lingala, Inuktitut, or many other languages. For many speakers of languages like these, the ability to hear the distinction is lost.)
Ain't linguistics cool?
27
@15, you don't know how to use chopsticks. There are some foods for which spoons are better than chopsticks or forks, sure. But chopsticks are better than forks for lots of things that we usually us forks for. Just as there are lots of things for which big cooking tongs work better than big cooking forks. Think of chopsticks as delicate little tongs.
28
Yeah it sure is terrible how accepted racial stereotypes were in the FIFTIES *cough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDHnS7pNg… cough*
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No, Rach3l @ 24, it doesn't sound incomprehensible to me. Patronizing, perhaps, but certainly not incomprehensible. Do you think you're the only one who's ever taken a linguistics class?
mr.herriman @ 25, I heard 'glape', too.
I'd still like to know if any actual Chinese found it offensive.
mr.herriman @ 25, I heard 'glape', too.
I'd still like to know if any actual Chinese found it offensive.
31
@24, Chinese here!lol.
It s a complete fault. We distinguish between L and R just like you wont mistake orange for apple. Only one exception, Chinese people who are living in southern part are likely to blur this distinction when they speak.
But I take no offense.
It s a complete fault. We distinguish between L and R just like you wont mistake orange for apple. Only one exception, Chinese people who are living in southern part are likely to blur this distinction when they speak.
But I take no offense.
32
Yeah, when I lived in China we totally had spoons. I'm pretty sure there have been spoons in China for a very long time. And the l vs r problem is something that Koreans have, not Chinese, because in Korean they are both the same phoneme and the difference in pronunciation comes from its position in the word. Just like a native English speaker would have trouble and get confused if they were trying to learn a language in which the hard and soft s were each represented by a different letter instead of just being learned pronunciations of the same one.
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