"...when they do it the right way, or, the canadian way..."

haffajappa

how like many old white women set in their ways.

today at work i struck up a conversation with a customer, she looked about her 60's, middle-class caucasion, and it came to talking about food or something... and how asians don't drink a lot of milk. or something. Anyways, she said, 'if they did it the right way, i mean the canadian way...'
and it jsut struck me as a bit ignorant or prejudice, i don't know if those are the right words or not... i know its no big deal but it just bugs me how some people have that self centered notion of the white way being the right way....

my caucasian grandma used to do that all the time with my dad (who is japanese), like if he spoke japanese to my mom (who is white but can speak it fluently), my grandmother would get all mad saying this is canada you HAVE TO speak 'canadian'. my brother and i never learned it and sometimes i feel like my grandmas influence had something to do with it, which is really unfortunate because looking back i'm really ashamed i don't speak japanese, given that i'm half....

Wilds

If it aint white it aint right.

J/k.... My wife is from Nagoya, Japan. We are both dead set on having our kids speak Japanese, and hopefully Spanish. We live in LA so we have a good opportunity for both.

My son goes to pre school at a Japanese school. He is four and my daughter will go as well in a couple years.

My grandfather was a bit like your grandmother. It is sad that their generation was not as accepting.

small town beck

I like to think that the "Canadian" way is NOT racist. Although some might say, saying all "old white women" are the same might be

I don't think my grandma ever treated my cousins any differently than my sister and I so I guess I was lucky. My aunt's husband... I just say he is my uncle anyway is Japanese Canadian but I am not sure he speaks Japanese. You should learn it now, that would be totally cool

My grandparents only concern was the religious difference but my uncle's mum didn't really want him to marry a caucasian but she told my aunt since he did she was glad it was her

I am constantly amazed at the things people say and then claim ignorance.

haffajappa

small town beck wrote:

I like to think that the "Canadian" way is NOT racist. Although some might say, saying all "old white women" are the same might be

I don't think my grandma ever treated my cousins any differently than my sister and I so I guess I was lucky. My aunt's husband... I just say he is my uncle anyway is Japanese Canadian but I am not sure he speaks Japanese. You should learn it now, that would be totally cool

My grandparents only concern was the religious difference but my uncle's mum didn't really want him to marry a caucasian but she told my aunt since he did she was glad it was her

I am constantly amazed at the things people say and then claim ignorance.

ok, you make a good point
maybe old white women isnt the best term.
i guess i've heard it many times before tho, at the store i work at there are a lot of older people who shop there (and dont get me wrong, i love working with them, most of them are complete sweet hearts) but a lot of times people of that generation will say weird stuff like that or be really rude to some of my coworkers (i work with some Indian people, and a Puerto Rican). A lot of times they can be really racist to them and it bugs me. One time a lady told a Sikh coworker of mine to 'take that f-ing rag off' his head.

i didn't mean to offend anyone

small town beck

doin'the-evolution wrote:

ok, you make a good point
maybe old white women isnt the best term.
i guess i've heard it many times before tho, at the store i work at there are a lot of older people who shop there (and dont get me wrong, i love working with them, most of them are complete sweet hearts) but a lot of times people of that generation will say weird stuff like that or be really rude to some of my coworkers (i work with some Indian people, and a Puerto Rican). A lot of times they can be really racist to them and it bugs me. One time a lady told a Sikh coworker of mine to 'take that f-ing rag off' his head.

i didn't mean to offend anyone

Oh I didn't mean you offended me or to make you feel I was merely pointing it out.

That is TERRIBLE that someone said that to your coworker!! I hope she was escorted out of the shop. Yep sadly I have heard and seen things that are really unbelieveable in this day and age. Sad really.

Once when I was doing customer service on the phone an older lady said something to me that I considered not to be proper and I asked her to discontinue using such terms and she had NO idea what she had said that was wrong

haffajappa

small town beck wrote:

Oh I didn't mean you offended me or to make you feel I was merely pointing it out.

That is TERRIBLE that someone said that to your coworker!! I hope she was escorted out of the shop. Yep sadly I have heard and seen things that are really unbelieveable in this day and age. Sad really.

Once when I was doing customer service on the phone an older lady said something to me that I considered not to be proper and I asked her to discontinue using such terms and she had NO idea what she had said that was wrong

yah its weird the things that people think is appropriate.
another time some customer threw a ripped pair of pajamas at me and actually said, 'send this back to china and teach them how to sew' i was just kinda shocked that someone would say that... i find myself either usually in shock or politely saying something subtly smart ass back... which the latter isnt the most grown up thing to do but.... it just blurts out of my mouth!!

small town beck

doin'the-evolution wrote:

yah its weird the things that people think is appropriate.
another time some customer threw a ripped pair of pajamas at me and actually said, 'send this back to china and teach them how to sew' i was just kinda shocked that someone would say that... i find myself either usually in shock or politely saying something subtly smart ass back... which the latter isnt the most grown up thing to do but.... it just blurts out of my mouth!!

It is strange. A good friend of mine is from Toronto and is of Chinese heritage and when she moved to PEI SO many people thought she was Japanese... anyway she took a part time before she started her Master's and someone actually said to her "oh wow your English is really good" and she replied "yeah so is yours" and he looked really stunned for a moment and THEN he said "oh I am from here" and she said " I am TOO" She cracks me up!!

Not that it is ANYWHERE nearly the same but being from PEI and living in Calgary I get people saying the weirdest fucking things to me... it is like they think I come from another planet sometimes I swear LOL I especially loved the co-worker who told me that everyone in the Maritimes was poor or her real gem(her mum is from New Brunswick so she considers herself an expert I guess) that people from the Maritimes tend to come from convoluted families??? Yeah because fucked up families don't come from anywhere else :rolleyes: and I mean HELLO I am from the maritimes. anyway sorry I kind of went off there

haffajappa

small town beck wrote:

It is strange. A good friend of mine is from Toronto and is of Chinese heritage and when she moved to PEI SO many people thought she was Japanese... anyway she took a part time before she started her Master's and someone actually said to her "oh wow your English is really good" and she replied "yeah so is yours" and he looked really stunned for a moment and THEN he said "oh I am from here" and she said " I am TOO" She cracks me up!!

Not that it is ANYWHERE nearly the same but being from PEI and living in Calgary I get people saying the weirdest fucking things to me... it is like they think I come from another planet sometimes I swear LOL I especially loved the co-worker who told me that everyone in the Maritimes was poor or her real gem(her mum is from New Brunswick so she considers herself an expert I guess) that people from the Maritimes tend to come from convoluted families??? Yeah because fucked up families don't come from anywhere else :rolleyes: and I mean HELLO I am from the maritimes. anyway sorry I kind of went off there

kinda like when we go across the border? hahaha!
thats hilarious what you're friend said... 'so is yours' hahahah. i have a friend who is also chinese, she's born and raised here though... i can picture her saying osmething like that.

small town beck

doin'the-evolution wrote:

kinda like when we go across the border? hahaha!
thats hilarious what you're friend said... 'so is yours' hahahah. i have a friend who is also chinese, she's born and raised here though... i can picture her saying osmething like that.

Ha ha yes

I laughed so much at that when she told me...she had some more dandies but her saying "so is yours" takes the cake

Heineken Helen

I guess, considering how she corrected herself, many of us think everything and the way we do it is the right way, cos it's the right way for us... so she corrected herself suggesting 'well not the right way, but the way WE do it' . Am I making sense? I don't think she meant to be bigoted or anything... but I wasn't there

SENROCK

doin'the-evolution wrote:

how like many old white women set in their ways.

today at work i struck up a conversation with a customer, she looked about her 60's, middle-class caucasion, and it came to talking about food or something... and how asians don't drink a lot of milk. or something. Anyways, she said, 'if they did it the right way, i mean the canadian way...'
and it jsut struck me as a bit ignorant or prejudice, i don't know if those are the right words or not... i know its no big deal but it just bugs me how some people have that self centered notion of the white way being the right way....

i dislike it alot when people act like THEIR way is best. Who are they to say?

SENROCK

Heineken Helen wrote:

I guess, considering how she corrected herself, many of us think everything and the way we do it is the right way, cos it's the right way for us... so she corrected herself suggesting 'well not the right way, but the way WE do it' . Am I making sense? I don't think she meant to be bigoted or anything... but I wasn't there

that makes sense. The way you put it reminds me of my sister in laws mom. No matter WHAT she does, its NEVER "right" if its not done the way her mom does it. Her mother is NEVER satisfied becuz HER way "is the best and ONLY way" :rolleyes:

Hinny

I've taken to wearing a shirt that just plain says 'Un-Australian'. I love it. I've had people come up to me asking where I got it from.

Heineken Helen

doin'the-evolution wrote:

ok, you make a good point
maybe old white women isnt the best term.
i guess i've heard it many times before tho, at the store i work at there are a lot of older people who shop there (and dont get me wrong, i love working with them, most of them are complete sweet hearts) but a lot of times people of that generation will say weird stuff like that or be really rude to some of my coworkers (i work with some Indian people, and a Puerto Rican). A lot of times they can be really racist to them and it bugs me. One time a lady told a Sikh coworker of mine to 'take that f-ing rag off' his head.

i didn't mean to offend anyone

of course it's rude... by OUR standards... but we've been brought up differently to the older generation. You just have to read books written decades ago to see what was acceptable and what wasn't. Also, the reality they've known their whole life is changing around them very very quickly and they wouldn't have HAD to learn so much about other cultures or tolerance cos chances are back in those days it was expected that you'd just stay in Canada and not really have to know much about other cultures. I know it's not nice but I'm just trying to see where they might be coming from.

illegal pants

Hinny wrote:

I've taken to wearing a shirt that just plain says 'Un-Australian'. I love it. I've had people come up to me asking where I got it from.

where'd ya get it from?

i don't know where i fit in? have talked 'til the cows come home on this topic... no one wins

Heineken Helen

doin'the-evolution wrote:

another time some customer threw a ripped pair of pajamas at me and actually said, 'send this back to china and teach them how to sew' i was just kinda shocked that someone would say that...

Is it wrong that I don't see anything wrong with that? :eek: I mean chances are the PJ's WERE made in China and if they weren't sewn right... well it's just something you'd say. If she had said it about something that were made in another part of Canada... like 'send this back to PEI and teach them how to sew' would you consider it so offensive?

SENROCK

illegal_pants wrote:

where'd ya get it from?

i don't know where i fit in? have talked 'til the cows come home on this topic... no one wins

well in THOSE pants you dont fit in ANYWHERE!!! YOU are a class all your own!!!

SENROCK

Heineken Helen wrote:

Is it wrong that I don't see anything wrong with that? :eek: I mean chances are the PJ's WERE made in China and if they weren't sewn right... well it's just something you'd say. If she had said it about something that were made in another part of Canada... like 'send this back to PEI and teach them how to sew' would you consider it so offensive?

dude, maybe we are BADD becuz......i read that too and found NOTHING wrong with it! :eek:

Heineken Helen

SENROCK! wrote:

dude, maybe we are BADD becuz......i read that too and found NOTHING wrong with it! :eek:

well that makes me feel a bit better ... I dunno... Steph, ya know I love ya and all but referencing where the PJ's were made doesn't make anyone prejudiced about anything

sennin

doin'the-evolution wrote:

...my brother and i never learned it and sometimes i feel like my grandmas influence had something to do with it, which is really unfortunate because looking back i'm really ashamed i don't speak japanese, given that i'm half....

I wish I had learned Japanese also....as I'm 1/2 also. My mom tells me she was too busy learning english to teach me Japanese. I don't blame her, but wish I had learned. I've always wanted to go to Japan.....but wouldn't it be weird to go there, look Japanese, but not speak the language?

Heineken Helen

sennin wrote:

I wish I had learned Japanese also....as I'm 1/2 also. My mom tells me she was too busy learning english to teach me Japanese. I don't blame her, but wish I had learned. I've always wanted to go to Japan.....but wouldn't it be weird to go there, look Japanese, but not speak the language?

hey it could be worse... I'm 100% Irish, look Irish, live in Ireland... and yet I can't put a sentence together in Irish :(

polaris

milk's a fraud ...

Collin

sennin wrote:

I wish I had learned Japanese also....as I'm 1/2 also. My mom tells me she was too busy learning english to teach me Japanese. I don't blame her, but wish I had learned. I've always wanted to go to Japan.....but wouldn't it be weird to go there, look Japanese, but not speak the language?

I heard there's a difference between the way Japanese women speak and Japanese men. Either way, it would have been cool if you understood and spoke, albeit like a woman, Japanese

haffajappa

sennin wrote:

I wish I had learned Japanese also....as I'm 1/2 also. My mom tells me she was too busy learning english to teach me Japanese. I don't blame her, but wish I had learned. I've always wanted to go to Japan.....but wouldn't it be weird to go there, look Japanese, but not speak the language?

is it the first question you get asked? when people find out i'm a halfer they always ask if i speak it first. and then i get all embarassed when i tell them i dont.

haffajappa

Heineken Helen wrote:

Is it wrong that I don't see anything wrong with that? :eek: I mean chances are the PJ's WERE made in China and if they weren't sewn right... well it's just something you'd say. If she had said it about something that were made in another part of Canada... like 'send this back to PEI and teach them how to sew' would you consider it so offensive?

maybe i was just bitter about her cos she actually threw them at me.

small town beck

Heineken Helen wrote:

: o Is it wrong that I don't see anything wrong with that? :eek : I mean chances are the PJ's WERE made in China and if they weren't sewn right... well it's just something you'd say. If she had said it about something that were made in another part of Canada... like 'send this back to PEI and teach them how to sew' would you consider it so offensive? : o

We just grow potatoes on PEI, we don't make anything there so our pyjamas very well could be crap LOL but I love that you said PEI I do see both sides of it though.

sennin wrote:

I wish I had learned Japanese also....as I'm 1/2 also. My mom tells me she was too busy learning english to teach me Japanese. I don't blame her, but wish I had learned. I've always wanted to go to Japan.....but wouldn't it be weird to go there, look Japanese, but not speak the language?

That is what my uncle says as well about going to Japan as my aunt thinks they should go but he said he would feel weird not being able to speak the language and everyone assuming he would. You only live once though so maybe you and mrs jamssennin should take a lovely holiday there

Heineken Helen

doin'the-evolution wrote:

maybe i was just bitter about her cos she actually threw them at me.

yeh, that should do it... I'd throw them right back too, ignorant cow.

haffajappa

small town beck wrote:

That is what my uncle says as well about going to Japan as my aunt thinks they should go but he said he would feel weird not being able to speak the language and everyone assuming he would. You only live once though so maybe you and mrs jamssennin should take a lovely holiday there

i second that! take her to our motherland!
my dads leaving on fathers day to go back for a couple weeks, i feel super bad i cant go... but if he had of told me BEFORE i bought my non refundable non transferable ten club tickets :rolleyes:

haffajappa

Heineken Helen wrote:

yeh, that should do it... I'd throw them right back too, ignorant cow.

i bet she'da stolen my camera too, given the chance.