November 9, 2018

"'Long Time, No See' Is Considered Offensive, Non-Inclusive Language at Colorado State University/Viewed as derogatory towards those of Asian descent."

A headline at Reason, linked by my son John at Facebook. I don't know about Asian. I'd have said Native American. Here's my comment over on John's post:
And don't substitute that you haven't seen the person in "many moons" or that you are "heap big" glad to see them. Don't say "Me talk-em Indian talk." Talk standard English. But, of course, to speak standard English is to exercise white privilege, so be very very careful. Or just don't say anything. You see someone you haven't seen in a long time? You could just pretend you don't see them.

107 comments:

Henry said...

Yo

Henry said...

Hey

Henry said...

Stick to one syllable, is what I'm saying.

rcocean said...

CSU speak with forked tongue. No see Redskin anger, see paleface trick.

MadisonMan said...

I work with a lot of CSU folks, so I know how I'll greet them next.

rcocean said...

Hi Ho = racist toward Chinese people.

Original Mike said...

Asians? When I heard this I assumed the claim was it was derogatory to the blind.

Kevin said...

In the future the only acceptable greeting will be, "Trump Sucks!"

It will be made while raising your right arm to a 45-degree angle with the open palm facing down to show you're not holding any racist feelings.

Original Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Original Mike said...

I can’t find the link. Do I have to log onto Facebook?

Bob Boyd said...

"I don't know about Asian. I'd have said Native American."

My first guess, it was supposedly offending the blind.

Curious George said...

I guess HOW are you doing is out, too.

Amadeus 48 said...

CSU has confused "Long time, no see" with "No tickee, no washee". It must be the "-ee" ending.

Bob Boyd said...

"Hi Ho = racist toward Chinese people."

And hurtful to sex workers.

traditionalguy said...

All speech is now forbidden speech...if it's by you. That's time to call in Jordon Peterson.

Ann Althouse said...

"CSU has confused "Long time, no see" with "No tickee, no washee". It must be the "-ee" ending."

I know, and the confusion itself is racist. When all racist sayings look alike to you, you're microaggressing.

Wince said...

"Long time, no see" in movies and television, a sampling.

Ann Althouse said...

Apparently, you need to belong to Facebook to go to a link to a post on Facebook that is intended as a blog post. That's the limitation to "blogging on Facebook," which is what John is doing.

Henry said...

Use short Anglo-Saxon words

Henry said...

Hasta la vista baby is right out.

Fernandinande said...

My Lpog's friend of Gender and Indianity started to say that her kids were "running around like wild In..." and caught herself, and then that ole Lpog said "like wild Indians?" and everyone laughed.

Fernandinande said...

The crazy racist Asian person is correct, though, in that "long time, no see" is non-inclusive language because it doesn't include people you've seen recently.

Oh the horror. The horror.

Ralph L said...

Could be from the telegraph era.

iowan2 said...

I stopped trusting in academics when I was a kid. Dad was involved in deciding about buying rail cars for grain. The phd's from university declared that it was a no brainer. Shortages as far as they could see. Which is appears is 2 years in academic speak.
The credentialed, but not accomplished types, just aren't capable of thinking. Memorizing and passing tests, check, writing inside an echo chamber, stroking the academics ego, check. Thinking through solutions? Fail

I don't think even these academics are this stupid, they're just messing with us because there are exactly zero things more important than investing energy in this.

Bob Boyd said...

What is an Lpog?

BarrySanders20 said...

CSU's on the warpath over this, sending smoke signals to communicate the new rules not to be Indian givers. And under no circumstances may anyone give anyone else an Indian burn without their consent.

Wince said...

"Smell you later."

Hagar said...

American Indians are of Asian descent.

gspencer said...

"No tickee, no shirtee"

Well, I can see that one, but "long time, no see?" Maybe if it was, "longy time, no see 'um," but not the original.

When does this nonsense end? What about Sylvester's "Sufferin' succotash!”

Fernandinande said...

What is an Lpog?

Life Partner Of Gender. (Psst - it's ironical).

Drago said...

I too will protest this.

Do you want to go with?

rhhardin said...

Lange nicht gesehen.

Lucid-Ideas said...

It is literally a direct translation from Chinese so I don't see how it could be offensive...

"好久不见", "Hao Jiu Bu Jian" = "Long Time, Not (Can't) See"

I cannot think of how this could not be seen as complimentary. The translation of a famous Chinese "Si Shi Shuo Fa" (4-character Phrase) has made it into the colloquial American lexicon.

tcrosse said...

See you later, alligator.
Just a while, crocodile.

Bob Boyd said...

Thanks. I looked it up, but I was pretty sure Low Occurrence Peritonitis Group wasn't what you meant.

rcocean said...

"Long time, no see" has been used for so long, no one knows the origins except for a scholarly few. It became popular in 1901.

This is just another insane Liberal controversy.

Diogenes of Sinope said...

Fuck all the leftists. If I want to say something racist I promise to be clear and explicit, no hidden meanings or dog whistles from me.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Long Time, No See' Is Considered Offensive, Non-Inclusive Language at Colorado State University

LOL

I read that, and assumed that it was non-inclusive for being ablist, non-inclusive of those who can't see

LYNNDH said...

Shake my head in disgust. Wife and I both grads. of CSU, when it was a good school. Now, not so much. BullShit tag to CSU.

Please note the name of the person that heads up the diversity office that decided the naughty words that must not be spoken.

Lucien said...

Sounds pretty cotton pickin’ important to me. (& thanks, EDH).

Birkel said...

How about "Fuck all of you overly sensitive punk asses in whatever way you least prefer."

tim maguire said...

Original Mike said...
Asians? When I heard this I assumed the claim was it was derogatory to the blind.


That was exactly my reaction. I still don;'t see how it excludes Asians. IS CSO one of those racist institutions that thinks Asians can't talk good?

Ambrose said...

Asians? - I thought it was about the sight-challenged among us.

lohwoman said...

"It was good for sore eyes as well as eyes that were not sore to see Jim Griffith yesterday. 'Long time no see him,' says the noble red man." The Morning Appeal, Carson City, Nevada, August 16, 1878.

Kevin said...

It is literally a direct translation from Chinese so I don't see how it could be offensive...

Oh they've got that covered. What is not offensive is a cultural appropriation.

Perhaps all native born citizens should stop speaking Spanish.

bleh said...

I agree that, if anything, it is derived from Native American speech. If it was meant to be derogatory toward Asians it would be "rong time, no see."

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

to prohibit non-whites from using "white" expressions would be racist

Tommy Duncan said...

From the Southern Illinoisan:

In George Orwell's chilling novel "1984," Newspeak is a method of controlling the people's language in order to keep them under Big Brother's heavy hand. It is a devious, diabolical system using brainwashing and mind-control to allow only certain "approved" words and ideas to be used.

We have the same thing in our society today. It's called "political correctness."

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
PM said...

They might be confusing "Long time, no see" with "Me love you long time".

tcrosse said...

No justice, no peace.

Matt said...

Other words and phrases that we shouldn't use anymore because they originate in one of the Chinese languages and are, therefore, offensive: qi, Dalai Lama, feng shui, koan, kung fu, shaolin, tai chi, tofu, and yin-yang. Also, anyone who uses one of these words in everyday conversation is sure to say something annoying.

Mr. D said...

I’m a copywriter by trade. One time I wrote sell copy for a point-and-shoot camera and the product headline was “No Hocus-Pocus, Just Focus.” I meant it as a play on the old Candid Camera theme song. I heard back from an irate customer who wanted to know why I was using anti-Catholic slurs. Apparently, at one point in the distant past, “hocus-pocus” was an Anglican slur against the Latin phrase Hoc est enim corpus meum, which is from the Liturgy of the Eucharist and are the words in the liturgy tied to the doctrine of transubstantiation. I’m Catholic and did not know any of this, primarily because I was born after Vatican II and hadn’t ever heard a Latin Mass. So apparently I was slurring myself.

L Day said...

Long time no CSU.

rcocean said...

“No Hocus-Pocus, Just Focus.”

I like it. Catchy.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

rcocean said...
Hi Ho = racist toward Chinese people.

As is all those 'Hey Ho!' chants the left always uses!

rcocean said...

"You're out of your Cotton pickin mind"

Heard that phrase all my life but suddenly its Verboten because....racism.

exhelodrvr1 said...

What about Ebonics? Is that bad, now?

Francisco D said...

Since academics no longer do useful politically incorrect research, they need to police language to get attention.

I wonder how kids feel when they are a free years out of school.

FWBuff said...

"Long time, no sea."

From Lewis & Clark's interim report to Thomas Jefferson.

robother said...

When I used to stay up on the Great Lakes in summers, they had these "No See Ums" that were quite the pests. Now, the preferred nomenclature is SJWs?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

no more bon mots?

Kevin said...

Hi Ho = racist toward Chinese people.

Can't wait to see the Snow White remake.

All those picks and shovels used by the Dwarves are clearly a statement about the treatment of Chinese railroad workers.

tim in vermont said...

It’s racist to think Asian chicks are sexy. Seinfeld covered this. It’s not the Asian chicks who mind, it’s the black chicks, or at least that’s what I gathered from watching Insecure What higher authority is there?

tim in vermont said...

Heard that phrase all my life but suddenly its Verboten because....racism.

I heard it a lot in the ‘60s and ‘70s, along with “There’s a n*r in the woodpile here!” They are both racist, sorry. Even though when I heard it, I never associated, being a Yankee, cotton picking with blacks. Lots of poor whites picked cotton too, but not as chattel slaves. We are trying to share a planet here. There’s lots of other colorful phrases you could use.

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rcocean said...

“There’s a n*r in the woodpile here!"

I never heard that phrase - ever. And certainly not in public.

I heard "Cotton pickin' mind" on TV all the time.

rcocean said...

"Paddy wagon" is supposedly anti-Irish, and "Dutch courage" is anti-German

robother said...

Bye the bye, Ann, what's with that expression on your son's Facebook picture? My mom would've given me a raft of shit if I had a picture like that in a newspaper or in our firm brochure (the then equivalents of Facebook). "Would it hurt you to smile?"

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

I would have thought "long time no see" goes back to detective Charley Chan, hence Asian. Thanks to Lucid Ideas on the translation.

Does anyone remember Ricky Ricardo's career? "Lusseeee ... you've got some 'splainin' to do." This line came back with a movie starring Emilio Estevez.

iowan2 said...

There are French cockroaches and English cockroaches. Depends on which side of the English Chanel you are.

Ethnic slurs will be here as long as man walks upright.

LA_Bob said...

Ebonics? Must be cultural appropriation if your ethnic persuasion is inappropriate.

Bob from Alhambra

LA_Bob said...

Back in the 70's, a girlfriend with Italian blood told me a joke about Italian automobile tires.

Dago round and round.
Dago flat.
Dago wopp wopp wopp.

Don't pelt me with pizzas.

Bob from Alhambra

jeff said...

ugg

PM said...

On December 18, 1996, the Oakland Unified School District school board of Oakland, California, United States, passed a controversial resolution recognizing the legitimacy of Ebonics – what mainstream linguists more commonly term African American English (AAE) – as an African language.

A month later, it was rescinded.

n.n said...

The progress of diversity, division, and diversion.

Amadeus 48 said...


WC Fields cleaned it up to “There’s an Ethiopian in the fuel supply” in My Little Chickadee.

Sam L. said...

One needs to carry a tray of pencils with "I'm Blind" printed on it, and you're good to go!

Sam L. said...

Oh, yes, ya gotta wear DARK glasses, too.

Anonymous said...

This is the sort of thing bratty toddlers keep doing when they've been indulged in "testing their limits" for too long. They're begging for adult authority figures to put their feet down, show they care, and rescue the willful little unsupervised darlings from the frightening disorder they've created for themselves.

Unfortunately, the ostensible authority figures ("administrators") are the bratty toddlers here, this nonsense having gone on for so long that the people who used to be the provoking students are now running the university. (Or rather, "university".) There are no adults around anymore.

Soon issuers of university directives will no longer be able to articulate their objections to words or deeds even in the feeble, hackneyed tropes common to "diversity and inclusion" bureaucrats...

They'll be reduced to finger-pointing and chants of "Bonk bonk on the head! Bonk bonk!" to signify their confusion and unhappiness.

Fernandinande said...

IS CSO one of those racist institutions that thinks Asians can't talk good?

In order not to cross each other in conscience, act.
Fail a responsibility in conduct of oneself. -- Master --

Yancey Ward said...

CSU officials need to be hit on head with piece of pipe.

Henry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Henry said...

Yancey, peace pipe?

Birkel said...

All these rules seem Jerry rigged.

Birkel said...

Or is it Gerry?

Howard said...

So solly

Mark Nielsen said...


Larry Day: "Long time no CSU."

Perfect.

Achilles said...

My wife still can’t make the r sound.

The leftists are constantly building justifications for calling their enemies racist.

Big steps towards hot civil war are being taken in Arizona and Florida right now.

Phil 314 said...

I'm for Minnesotans to get upset with the use of "Doncha know"

and for New Yorkers likewise to object to "fuggedaboudit"

hstad said...

LOL - the PC silliness continues until human beings actually concern themselves over real values and their true purpose on this planet. Not this liberal game playing by those in academia who've essentially ruined daily living for the average American.

Paul From Minneapolis said...

In their defense it's still permissible to say or write "Ancient Chinese secret, huh?" UNLESS the topic is laundry.

jimbino said...

Always say "Absolutely!" with emphasis instead of "yes" in order to be recognized as a brainless Amerikan. Say "dove" instead of "dived" and "I should have drank" and "I could have ran." Eschew use of the subjunctive altogether except in "If I were you,...." Hit your listeners repeatedly over the head with a "coup de gras." And remember that "I axed my mother" can be cultural appropriation.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

It's because epicanthic folds impede vision. Blame evolution.

LTC Ted said...

The native... err indigenous... errr persons who learned Chinese from their parents in China taught us that *long time, no see is a direct, translation of *hen jyou mei jyan. That's the Yale Romanization, q.v., designed as a quick way to teach Americans to speak tolerably understandable Mandarin.

JaimeRoberto said...

Is Heil Hitler still ok as a greeting? Asking for a friend.

rcocean said...

"Heil Hitler still ok as a greeting? Asking for a friend."

No, but "I Love Comrade Stalin" is not only OK, it will get you a University Job.

n.n said...

"I Love Comrade Stalin" is not only OK, it will get you a University Job.

"I Lust Mao" will get you a tenured professorship. Oh, and Planned Professorship comes with privileged, single-payer medical and luxury subsidies.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

re. Lucid-Ideas at 9:30.

I thought that read "Hao Jiu Bin Dune.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

for tcrosse:

Que tal, animal?
Perfecto, insecto.

Big Mike said...

The right thing to do when someone confronts you over this microaggression is to spit in their left eye.

My name goes here. said...

May I ax you a question?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
wholelottasplainin said...

Sayonara, "Sayonara".

Unknown said...

1. It never occurred to me this expression had anything to do with the Chinese.
2. Is Spanglish still allowed?
3. Don't these SJW language police have important stuff to worry about?

dwick said...

While I don't think 'long time, no see' should be considered offensive... it is a 'pidgin English' phrase that (according to a book I'm reading right now called Imperial Twilight by Stephen R Platt) originated in China during the 19th century heyday of British imperialism before the opium wars.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Anyone speaking English as a second language - or any new language - is initially likely to leave out words that a native speaker would put in. For example, most languages don't have any equivalent to the way English adds do, did to verbs. (Side note: It is probably from Celtic.) So they leave it out at first, until they acquire the intuitive, unexplainable way we use it. So the phrase could have been from any group that only used English to get by. As it seems to be from the West, that could easily be Chinese or Native American. The use by Americans was likely a humorous imitation of that, and maybe a bit insulting. But it caught on because it's a great phrase.

That's how language works. If we start cutting out things like that, a hundred years after the origin is obscured, we will have no words or phrases we can use.