The happenings here recently has brought to mind a little story that happened to me and I would like to share it with you all.

In my freshman year of college, I decided that my major should be science. I was always really interested in biology and physics. I signed up for my physics class with a tough professor. He was from China, and had emigrated to America when he was young. His name was Dr. Hu (pronounced who). That is not the worst part of it. His first name was Yu (of course, pronounced You) Yep... YooHoo was his name. He was a brilliant man, especially when it came to lasers. I, being the class clown, gave him a really hard time, not thinking that he had heard it all before from the dumb asses that came before me, the king of dumb asses. Well, Dr. Hu never seemed to let my remarks get under his skin. I suppose that he realized that I was not trying to be mean, I was just trying to make him laugh. The man NEVER laughed. He never even smiled. He was so soft spoken that you could barely hear him when he was teaching.
One day, a thought came to my mind. In class, I asked Dr. Hu if he was Cantonese. He said yes. I asked him "What is my name in Cantonese?" He then told me that there were no real translations for Cantonese names to English. So I said, "Well. What would it mean if someone who was Cantonese came up to you and said Jeff (my name) in Cantonese?" He looked around the class, first to the left, then to the right. Finally he looked me in the eyes.....
"Fool" he said....
My jaw dropped.
I could see my classmates shaking up and down, trying not to laugh out loud, but that did not last very long. Soon everyone in the class, myself included was busting out. I know that my face must have been a bright red, but that was okay...
Dr. Hu was laughing too.

I earned a B in physics that year. Not bad for that class. I also learned another lesson.. He who laughs last.... :D

Good story Jarg.

It could've been worse for both of you. He could've said he was in fact American and couldn't speak Cantonese or Mandarin. Then there wouldn't have been a punchline to diffuse the tension.

I do an exercise on the first day of my classes, which at Berkeley have always been extremely diverse. I have the students historicize their names. It always starts with how their parents gave them their names, but they soon start to see that names symbolize the fact that everyone comes from somewhere else or takes significance from some non-"native" source. This is true even in racially-homogenous cultures.

Many names in America come from Hebrew. Many are French or Old English. They are always the conjunction of two families, who if they have avoided in-breeding, have thousands of forking branches. This exercise also sheds light on why the African American community's desire to create their own names is in fact the most American impulse of all -- to fashion oneself anew for the sake of or to signify freedom.

I once heard some KKK idiot on Jerry Springer say he was defending the "white" race (this is in fact a false, even if operative, category), and that he was "100% Anglo-Saxon." I guess the guy did not understand what the hyphen between Anglo and Saxon represented.

Mahatma wrote:


Sigh... My mother named me after a dog.... When she was young, she had a dog named Jeff... :?



I think I saw that one as well. The one where the guy was bed ridden, on oxygen. The KKK was, at one time, a big influence here where I live. Now, you rarely hear a peep out of them. I assume that they are still around, but they are not as prevelent as they once were.

Speaking of Springer. <RANT MODE ON>
I want everyone out there to know that southern people are NOT a bunch of inbred, ignorant, mouth breathers. The scum that ends up on his show is not the norm, but the exception. The vast majority of us here in the south are the friendliest people you will ever meet, so please, when you watch Springer, keep that in mind.
<RANT MODE OFF>
Sorry. That is one of my big pet peeves.

I knew lady from korean( if I spell that right)Her name was Uk pon u say it as Open.Like open door.
jarg you have real name.My middle name is made up.And hospital misspelled on top of it.My father saw my ID.Told me they misspell it.I said No.It on my brith record.I had to saw him paper to how they spell.

sci and jarg my dad did the same thing to me they named me Pamala thats right all a's my dad thought it was spelled that way when in the real world Pamala is spelled Pamela try going through life and telling people everyday they spelled your name wrong i get into arguments about the way it is spelled i usually have to show id to prove it is spelled with all a's parents are morons lol


we have kkk up here but don't hear much about them no more

i think most people on springer are paid to say the things they say

mah i like the way you start out the year with the students pretty cool my hertitage if spelled write comes from hungarian my great grandparent sailed to usa on a ship from there my grandma and great aunt were pure honkey and people wonder where i get my attitude lol

ok enough blabbing i'm off to bed

hotts

ok lmao i did speel check to make sure i spelled everything right and it told me i spelled my name wrong to funny

BH My Mother & MY Father put 2 Name together comptele come out new name.Not like JoeAnne or MarryAnne.They parts of 2 names comptele come up new name.