Asians in the media, before political correctness
The politically correct camp will say this is racist toward Chinese. I find it bloody funny and, PC thugs, I don’t need you defending me and implying that I can’t do so myself. I am perfectly capable of doing so if I need to—and with Alf Hill, I don’t need to.
This is an early Chinaman gag; later ones were cleverer with the puns, but it’s still fun to see the genesis of Mr Chow Mein. It’s also funny because Hill doesn’t put Chow into a stereotypical vocation, so I would say few Chinese will think: ‘Here we go again—another Chinaman working in a laundry.’
I would hope south Asians will think similarly of Bob Todd’s character.
My Groups
-
Social Justice Updated: A moment ago
-
News of the World Updated: 3 minutes ago
-
Media and Culture Updated: 5 minutes ago
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
Comments
Hey Mr. Yan, It is funny... well to my twisted humor. Thanks for the post.
I think sometimes that it depends on who is telling the story, what the intent is. Still, this was funny stuff.
FYI: sent you a response.
Simply:
bill
But there is some truth in it as far as my experience with the Chinese back in singapore is concerned.
Firstly, when they are not understood, they tend to think it the fault of the listener.
Secondly, they always attempt to make sense of what people say as quickly as possible by just focusing on the first bit of information that enables a statement to make sense. For instance, if i was to ask for a sausage roll, i get a sausage. Further information beyond the first chance to make sense of a statement is discounted.
Thirdly, when confronted with novel questions, they will simply respond by repetition instead of considering questions which they have never asked before.
Fourthly, when asked to rationalise a decision, they simply hide behind the statement, 'company policy'.
Extremely lazy information-processors. I recall a chinese friend once telling me about a Taiwan professor who stated that the singapore chinese are the most dumbest amongst the chinese in asia. Quite true, according to my personal experience. I find this most interesting sociologically and psychologically and have over the years sought out the reasons why this is more pronounced amongst them compared to others in order to discover the cause and possible remedies.
However, it was quite a different experience with the Chinese in Hong Kong (i lived there for a year) or Taiwan who seemed to actually process information on the fly. They were far more vibrant, had more opinions on a range of matters, less bigoted, and more fun. Whenever i couldn't understand a service provider in HK, they would try to make themselves understood again and again. And if they failed, they would seek out another member of staff to try. I was most pleased by this. Personally, if i was to choose a country in Asia to settle down in, I would choose HK.
Anyway, i don't find the Chinese speaking the way Benny Hill speaks these days. What i found hilarious about the above vid is not the way Benny speaks, but the way it is misinterpreted. I don't fault people for the way they speak english, especially if this is due to their styles of pronunciation and other linguistic rules adhered to in their own language.
Thanks for the vid Jack.
Interestingly, I had a similar experience to you over the border in Malaysia, where the Chinese tended to behave as some sort of superior race—not a good approach. Unsurprisingly, the native Malays and Indians really liked me because, I gathered, I didn’t treat them as second-class. My Singaporean experience is more limited, so next time I go I might have to watch out for this.
Taiwan was lovely. Hong Kong, of course, is my homeland. There were similarities in that we would never wish to lose face by remaining incomprehensible, so we would find someone to help. I was surprised to learn from your experience that this is less prevalent among Singaporean Chinese.