Racial epithet makes news

[Baker, John M.]

    Bear in mind that the Chinese man wasn't just eating with sticks; he
was eating with sticks while participating in a spectacular parade on a
quiet street.  So, yes, it was intended to be weird.
 
 
John Baker
 


________________________________

From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Joel S. Berson
Sent: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 4:45 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Racial epithet makes news


At 7/7/2010 03:37 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:


        Surely someone has criticized even the changed version. Doesn't
it mean that
        Chinese people only and always eat with "sticks"?  And by
mentioning it ("To
        *think* that I saw it on *Mulberry* Street!") isn't the
        narrator telling children that it's weird?


No.  Rather, that Lower Manhattan could be weird.  (And perhaps it was
weird to see a Chinese man in a neighborhood of Italian immigrants.)

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