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Monday, April 24, 2023









Crank It Up Romantic Rumba  at Coffee Saigon on 4-24-23--Pakse copy




Monitor, "Crank It Up Romantic Rumba." Sign below advertises buses to Vietnam via Cambodia. "LỘC" on calendar means benefits or wealth. In corner are cases of Saigon Beer, though Beerlao is much better.

So we have Saigon Beer at Coffee Saigon. I've had Americans lecture me about my usage of "Saigon." When I told Vietnamese friends about this, they were incredulous.

"Have they been to Vietnam?"

"No."

"Do they know anything about Vietnam?"

"No."

"So why do they talk like this?"

The answer should be obvious. Imagine a Vietnamese lecturing a Tajik about Tajikistan!


4 comments:

WayWay said...

Maybe you've seen this related video of the college kids being offended on behalf of Mexicans before.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IT2UH74ksJ4&pp=ygUSc29tYnJlcm8gb2ZmZW5zaXZl

Biff said...

Thanks WayWay, good video.

Max von Schuler-Kobayashi said...

I have lived in Japan for 49 years. I have written 7 books in Japanese. I have few dealings with newbie Americans, as they will lecture me about Japanese prejudices, even though they have been here only 6 months.

Linh Dinh said...

Hi Max,

Since all Americans have seen a few Vietnam movies, and perhaps a PBS documentary, they don’t need to spend a day in Vietnam to lecture Vietnamese about Vietnam. At Unz, a moron used a scene from a movie to shout me down.

Linh