USC professor suspended for using a Chinese word that sounds like a racial slur - Nega

or nah yi ge

please offend me wrote:

We’ve raised an entire generation of people who are itching to be “offended” so that they can bask in their righteousness. Disgusting.

It has been that way for hundreds if not thousands of years, but we are not nearly as sensitive now as we were in the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's, we are still too sensitive, but are becoming less so lately.

As noted throughout the thread, this is an extremely common word in Mandarin, often said in succession until the next sentence/thought is formed, and NO racist intent whatsoever.

It's pretty comical. I can't imagine how anyone could side against the prof. Even if he's not pronouncing it 100% correctly (and I've heard that pronunciation varies widely across China, so anyone giving a categorical pronunciation is wrong), the context is abundantly clear.

It takes malicious levels of victim mentality to make the leaps it took to get so offended.

Maybe we aren't seeing the full story here? I hope?

bro. wrote:

Lol really? I'm Chinese and my family and family friends use this phrase a lot. I didn't even make the association till someone asked me about it. People need to grow up.

My American born Chinese friends used to joke about this phrase when we were teenagers, because our parents wouldn’t understand how it was related. Of course there's no connection - this is just dumb.

VroomVroom wrote:

What do you expect? It's California. Great place to visit but no place to live. Starting to take over the whole west coast.

Can the San Andreas fault just go off and dump California into the pacific already? Lol. We'd be much better off.

What kind of goods and taxes does your hillbilly state generate?

haha you americans are retarded

Kids need to stop getting offended so easily. Even if he misponounced the Chinese word and it sounded like the N word in English, it's the context that makes it offensive. He used the word in explaining a Chinese filler word, so it was very clear he was refering to the Chinese word and not the English word. The syllables that make up that word on not offensive on their own; it's the context of using the word in derogatory ways that makes it offensive in English.

racists are dumb wrote:

badboysbadboys wrote:

Or maybe it was the PCP he was on? Just a thought...

He was naked and in handcuffs on the ground. Here's a thought, If you 're scared of someone who is naked and in handcuffs, maybe you should be a kindergarten teacher or something.

White guy kills 2 people shoots a third an waltzes past cops with a rifle slung over his shoulder. How come he did not get a bag over his head or shot in the back - not once, let along 7 times.?

White guys goes into a church and kills 9 black people. Police escort him out and buy him Burger King on the way home. How come he didn't get a bullet in the back or a bag over his head?

He was on PCP and spitting on the cops right at the start of the chinese virus pandemic. How exactly are they supposed to control him? It was already their 2nd contact with him that day...

Remember back in 2012 when, after a New York Knick loss, ESPN anchor Max Bretos said "If there is a chink in the armor, where can (Jeremy) Lin improve his game?"

Bretos was suspended for that, and an ESPN writer who used the same phrase in an online headline was fired.

Maybe start your own country?

There is no word that is illegal in the USA to write or say.

gottarun215 wrote:

Kids need to stop getting offended so easily. Even if he misponounced the Chinese word and it sounded like the N word in English, it's the context that makes it offensive. He used the word in explaining a Chinese filler word, so it was very clear he was refering to the Chinese word and not the English word. The syllables that make up that word on not offensive on their own; it's the context of using the word in derogatory ways that makes it offensive in English.

Logical, but untrue.

In the US right now, saying the Chinese word is grounds for suspension. But if I say

"N-word,"

which actually refers to that word, it's OK. It's batsh!t crazy.

Intent is NOT what makes anything offensive in the US right now.

Someone claiming to be offended is what makes something offensive. This is a fact. It un-wrap-your-head-around-able, but it is a fact.

I'm of Irish-Italian heritage.

How about I choose to be offended every time someone refers to "Mick" Donalds or orders a "Wop"per at BK?

All of these are choices... people choosing to be offended... and others choosing to reward them for it. One cannot exist without the other.

I explained this situation 那個 situation to friends here in Taiwan. And they were like... "What? I don't get it. What? Yeah, but it's a different language. He wasn't saying that English word. Suspended? What? Why? But? What?"

As I prepare students to study in the US, I need to caution them not to say 那個 when speaking to people in Mandarin because they will be kicked out of school? Yup, apparently I do.

Fix this. You look ridiculous.

In Korean,

"niga" mean "you"

"nega" mean "I"

There is a country in Africa called Niger. The first time I heard the word was at a college party. I thought somebody was trying to make a bad joke. The kid pronounced it with a "j" sound, instead of a "g" sound. I looked at his eyes with a reprimand gesture, but he kept repeating the word because he found it in the dictionary and was explaining its origin. I wonder if the professor knew the impact of his speech on others and continue to do it as pleasure. Nowadays, you have to be sensitive to other people's feelings.

IRON HORSE wrote:

Nowadays, you have to be sensitive to other people's feelings.

Really? Why? I have found that "other" people could care two ****about my feelings. All this sensitivity BS is over the top and has turned this country into a whole bunch of cry babies. *

* I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings by my comments.

It is on occasion like this that I long for an immensely destructive global cataclysm