Asian sterotypes?

[fireheart]

For some reason, I started thinking of that scene in The Simpsons where Abe is telling Homer about some things he could do while his knee injury is healing.

Abe: Oh, come on, there's lots of ways to pass the time. Hitch
up your pants, air whittle, make friends with a Chinese
man.
[an Asian man enters the room]
Craig: Um, Mr. Simpson, you weren't supposed to leave the home.
Abe: Thank you Ping-Pong!
Craig: Um, my name is Craig.
Abe: Suuure it is.

Here's the link to the aforementioned ep

[downforit2008]

I just hope no one ever came up to you and made some crack about having an "ancient Chinese secret"(told in that stupid Asian accent that people do for that saying) or saying, "DONG, where is my AUTO-MOBILE?" (quoted from the 1984 movie Sixteen Candles directed towards an Asian exchange student that borrowed his host's car the night he got drunk at some high school party and crashes it in the process)
I like people who are of Asian descent, but I've never pulled that crap on them!

[South Texan]

"ancient Chinese secret"

That phrase comes from a Calgon laundry soap commercial in the early 70's. The line was spoken by a young man (of obvious Chinese heritage but having no accent whatsoever) bragging to his laundrette customer about how he got shirts so white. His wife exposes his use of Calgon.

[jedimaster91]

And that's when you look her dead in the eye and say, slowly and sarcastically:

"Woof"

Wouldn't it be "wav" in Japanese, though?

[Sidvicious]

Thanks for all the responses! I enjoyed reading them all. I've seen all the references to the shows you guys listed. Big Bang Theory (I loved James Hong in Big Trouble in Little China!), The Simpsons, Modern Family, Captain America, etc @mjr @jay2kwinger @thehuckster @fireheart

@fudgethatkay Thank you! Japanese sounds like a fun language to learn. Like Chromatix said, the whole "ching chong" thing doesn't make sense when mocking the Japanese language. A lot of people are not really great at knowing the difference between Asian languages or cultures. I have a friend who comes from an Irish background and people who mock her with Scottish sterotypes. Your mother is probably a nice person who means well I'm sure but I could imagine how embarrassing that can be!

@Draper Mel My internet is a bit wacky so I won't be able to check out the link yet but thank you! Once everything is straighten out, I'll check it out!

@South Texan True. I should have just stopped there. I do my best to show a lot of restraint in these situations. I'm sure some people really do mean well so I try to be polite about it.

@sms001 I wish we had more people like yourself as customers!

@jester Yikes! Having to have to deal with that on a daily basis would be very exhausting. A lot of people I come across don't know the difference between ethnicity and nationality. I'm confident to say that 100% of the time someone asks about my nationality, they really mean ethnicity. This one man who claims to be a Vietnam veteran tells me that my kind should be grateful that we are allowed to live in the USA thanks to people like him. "we helped the Oriental people like you so you can live in our country." He eventually got banned by the manager for an unrelated thing the next time he showed up. I wasn't there for it though.

@downforit2008 I can't remember if someone ever said the phrase "ancient Chinese secret" If someone did, it was on a day I had off. I haven't seen Sixteen Candles in years! I always did enjoy Breakfast Club more.

@barainga it's so ridiculous isn't it?


I hope I didn't left anyone out. Anyway, I'm going to be starting a new job soon where I don't deal with customers anymore. I'm moving back to Queens and will need to find a dry cleaners for my clothes now. After my years of experience in a dry cleaner working with customers and the knowledge of the machines behind the counter, I know what's possible in terms of getting clothes cleaned and how to behave as a customer. I'll do my best to make my experiences with them easy as possible. Let's just hope I don't end up as a story here on the forum!

[Jester]

@jester Yikes! Having to have to deal with that on a daily basis would be very exhausting.

Yes, it would be. Luckily I DON'T deal with it daily, just from time to time. Enough to make me mentally roll my eyes every time it comes up, but luckily, it's been a while since the last time.