U.S. professor "placed on leave" for saying neige/nage

[HXVZ-07031017]

This just makes zero sense. 不大 can be heard as “puta” which is a Spanish curse word. Is it really now bad to say that something isn’t big in another language.

There's also an entire ethnic group in China whose name means "dick" in several Slavic languages

[Anatoliyanskiy]

Hah hah. I'd vote on the poll but both options are loaded. So no. I'm not going to until you change their names, because either way my answer is bad. *sigh*. I definitely think he should be reinstated though. I mean come on guys, too far. Focus on what's important.

[Skyhooked]

Damn, I just pray, that this SJW bunch is just a vocal minority... I am a lil' bit on the left too (I am center-left) and don't wanna be bunched with their lot. They ain't my type.

This just makes zero sense. 不大 can be heard as “puta” which is a Spanish curse word. Is it really now bad to say that something isn’t big in another language.

There's also an entire ethnic group in China whose name means "dick" in several Slavic languages

Yep! There is! But in our language (I am slav dude myself, from Ukraine), they are "Huei", not "Hui" (To avoid unnecessary associations) Just like ol' Drizzt Do'Urden from D&D, who is localized in Russian as "Dzirt" cause Drizzt sounds like Russian word for diarrhea.

And speaking of slurs, Russian word for book also sounds like N-word.

[Gorundu]

Yeah this. Chinese is more of a language group with different languages/dialects under it, but Mandarin Chinese is taken as the normal Chinese language.

You can't compare Cantonese, Mandarin and Teochew, for example, dialects together. They're basically different.

So it's more than likely this guy was just pronouncing it in the way he was used to without thinking about the absolute idiots in the audience. This is a sad day indeed.

You should always think about the context you say something in. You'd expect a professor who's an expert on communications to know better.

This just makes zero sense. 不大 can be heard as “puta” which is a Spanish curse word. Is it really now bad to say that something isn’t big in another language.

As above, context is key. And plus, the professor has no excuse since English is their first language after all.

[Phaenix]

While racial slurs are obviously unacceptable, to be fired for using a word from a different language because it sounds like a slur in your language, is absolutely ridiculous. The professor should be reinstated. Also, I would recommend you change the poll names since both are terrible.

[Gorundu]

While racial slurs are obviously unacceptable, to be fired for using a word from a different language because it sounds like a slur in your language, is absolutely ridiculous. The professor should be reinstated.

They haven't been fired. I'm sure they'll be back on the job soon enough. Trumpers make a mountain out of a molehill as usual.

[Kuraschia]

So it's more than likely this guy was just pronouncing it in the way he was used to without thinking about the absolute idiots in the audience. This is a sad day indeed.

You should always think about the context you say something in. You'd expect a professor who's an expert on communications to know better.

This just makes zero sense. 不大 can be heard as “puta” which is a Spanish curse word. Is it really now bad to say that something isn’t big in another language.

As above, context is key. And plus, the professor has no excuse since English is their first language after all.

Oh no. No no no no no. Please, don't be like that. He was speaking 1. Another language, meaning that what he said means something completely different then in our language. 2. It doesn't even explicitly translate as well, you know. 3. Key word here, ENGLISH IS THEIR FIRST LANGUAGE!!!!. This means that they might not have even mean't to say that word. And plus, your gonna have to say the colour one day or another. So yeah. Oh dear.

[Aureumterra]

The wokies doing wokie things

Turning everyday, normal things into alleged "dogwhistles" and "persecuting" people for uttering those so-called "dogwhistles"

Same thing with the OK hand

[Twicetagram and JYPe]

This just makes zero sense. 不大 can be heard as “puta” which is a Spanish curse word. Is it really now bad to say that something isn’t big in another language.

Yeah. Although I'm sure the p in 'puta' is aspirated unlike the b in 不大？idk

Yeah this. Chinese is more of a language group with different languages/dialects under it, but Mandarin Chinese is taken as the normal Chinese language.

You can't compare Cantonese, Mandarin and Teochew, for example, dialects together. They're basically different.

So it's more than likely this guy was just pronouncing it in the way he was used to without thinking about the absolute idiots in the audience. This is a sad day indeed.

It depends on a context. If the guy was talking about Chinese linguistics or Chinese related things in general then obviously the accusations are groundless and he should be reinstated. But, if he was talking nothing related to Chinese language I think there is some suspicion as to why he used the word, knowing it may sound wrong.
But we can all agree it's something sad, that people can take a word from another language with little connection and accuse it of sounding offensive.

[Nobel Hobos 2]

This just makes zero sense. 不大 can be heard as “puta” which is a Spanish curse word. Is it really now bad to say that something isn’t big in another language.

Yeah. Although I'm sure the p in 'puta' is aspirated unlike the b in 不大？idk

So it's more than likely this guy was just pronouncing it in the way he was used to without thinking about the absolute idiots in the audience. This is a sad day indeed.

It depends on a context. If the guy was talking about Chinese linguistics or Chinese related things in general then obviously the accusations are groundless and he should be reinstated. But, if he was talking nothing related to Chinese language I think there is some suspicion as to why he used the word, knowing it may sound wrong.

Either he should have known better, but it was just a badly chosen example. Old person can't use a computer.
Or he finds it funny and gets a laugh out of students with it. Which would be more serious.

The only way it would be completely innocent is if he was teaching Chinese to English-speaking students, and was warning them to be careful how they say this Chinese word.

[Gorundu]

You should always think about the context you say something in. You'd expect a professor who's an expert on communications to know better.

As above, context is key. And plus, the professor has no excuse since English is their first language after all.

Oh no. No no no no no. Please, don't be like that. He was speaking 1. Another language, meaning that what he said means something completely different then in our language. 2. It doesn't even explicitly translate as well, you know. 3. Key word here, ENGLISH IS THEIR FIRST LANGUAGE!!!!. This means that they might not have even mean't to say that word. And plus, your gonna have to say the colour one day or another. So yeah. Oh dear.

Sorry, what? Thinking before you speak is about the first rule of effective communications, and you'd sure hope a professor who's supposedly an expert in communications practise that rule themselves. You can forgive a Chinese person with no knowledge of English for saying it at a bad time, but for someone whose first language is English and apparently specialises in communications, they really should have known better.

[The Reformed American Republic]

While racial slurs are obviously unacceptable, to be fired for using a word from a different language because it sounds like a slur in your language, is absolutely ridiculous. The professor should be reinstated.

They haven't been fired. I'm sure they'll be back on the job soon enough. Trumpers make a mountain out of a molehill as usual.

They shouldn't have been punished at all.

[Aureumterra]

While racial slurs are obviously unacceptable, to be fired for using a word from a different language because it sounds like a slur in your language, is absolutely ridiculous. The professor should be reinstated.

They haven't been fired. I'm sure they'll be back on the job soon enough. Trumpers make a mountain out of a molehill as usual.

Where did Trump come from?

[Freiheit Reich]

Not a shocker that this happened in California. Only Chinese people are allowed to speak Chinese. The professor should have known better. It is also offensive to wear a sombrero unless you are Mexican, wear a qipao unless you are Asian, or wear 'black hairstyles' unless you are black. However, it is acceptable for all races to wear European style suits which makes no sense. These are examples of 'first world problems.' The professor needs to move to a state with more common sense.

https://medium.com/@gabriella_evang/whi ... 7d5b4dd1f3

https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/61741 ... ress-prom/

https://thetab.com/uk/sheffield/2019/10 ... sive-40653

[Freiheit Reich]

Did the Professor use other Chinese words in his Communications class?

If the only word of Chinese he ever used was "na-ge", it was either extraordinarily bad communication, or intended to be a racist joke.

Is the 'n word' a racist word? Many black rappers use it which shows it must no longer be a racist word.

[Purpelia]

You should always think about the context you say something in. You'd expect a professor who's an expert on communications to know better.

The context in this case is a foreign language class. Anyone offended by a word in one language because it sounds like another by chance is an idiot. And I mean that not in the offensive way but in the medical way. As in a person of average or above intelligence can understand the concept of different languages sounding alike by accident. It takes someone who unwillingly or in this case willfully has impaired cognitive abilities to not realize this.

[The Reformed American Republic]

I'm amused at all the progressives and leftists shilling by supporting his punishment.

[Vivolkha]

Ignorance and mob rule are huge problems in modern society.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Did the Professor use other Chinese words in his Communications class?

If the only word of Chinese he ever used was "na-ge", it was either extraordinarily bad communication, or intended to be a racist joke.

Is the 'n word' a racist word? Many black rappers use it which shows it must no longer be a racist word.

Not just black rappers. There was this one guy who https://youtu.be/gAs9HZC9c7Y

[Vivolkha]

Is the 'n word' a racist word? Many black rappers use it which shows it must no longer be a racist word.

Not just black rappers. There was this one guy who https://youtu.be/gAs9HZC9c7Y

I was better off when I forgot that song existed.

[Flockaflockabowbow]

I studied abroad for a year in China in an area where the Chinese expression in question does sound somewhat like the dreaded N word, enough so that I got to experience the awkward scene of an affluent liberal white woman berating a hapless native Chinese student for being racially insensitive for using it while hesistating over which dishes to choose in the lunch hall. It'd probably be a good idea going forward to go through and revise the vocabularies of all world languages still in use to ensure there are no sound formations that could cause offense to wealthy western college students.

[Minskiev]

Alright, that’s a dumb poll. It honestly looks like a watered-down North Korean poll, with some words changed.

However, the topic is pretty stupid, on woke Twitter’s part. What’s that? Trying to say snow in French? Cancelled. Trying to say ‘To swim’ in French? Cancelled. Trying to speak a language other than English? Cancelled. Ah yes, we love multiculturalism!

[Atheris]

Does anyone remember that Chinese song where this guy sounded like he was saying the n word but he was just saying 那个？
Yeah this gives me that vibe.

Oh, Yang Guang Cai Hong Xiao Nai Ma! I honestly really like the memes around that song.

Going back to the topic at hand, this is beyond stupid. He did literally nothing wrong.

Did the Professor use other Chinese words in his Communications class?

If the only word of Chinese he ever used was "na-ge", it was either extraordinarily bad communication, or intended to be a racist joke.

Is the 'n word' a racist word? Many black rappers use it which shows it must no longer be a racist word.

Only when used in a racist context. There's a lot of difference between explaining the history of the n-word or using it when not referring to anyone than calling someone it.

[Sanghyeok]

This tbh. Normally the word is pronounced differently. But I guess it's some sort of accent or dialect where it's spoken differently from the original pronunciation.

It is my admittedly limited understanding that Chinese is not so much a language as it is a language group. And that each region of China has its own dialects and variants that can lead to at the extreme end partial unintelligibly between speakers. But my source for this is not that great (I forgot where I read it).

That is true, but in no way would most speakers pronounce it even close to the n-word. Now, Korean pronouns however...

[Purpelia]

It is my admittedly limited understanding that Chinese is not so much a language as it is a language group. And that each region of China has its own dialects and variants that can lead to at the extreme end partial unintelligibly between speakers. But my source for this is not that great (I forgot where I read it).

That is true, but in no way would most speakers pronounce it even close to the n-word. Now, Korean pronouns however...

That is irrelevant.