Some bar in the east village last night. I point out some fat guy, who really looks like Santa Claus, to my friend Brian, who's Chinese.

Him: Oh that guy gave me a "mushi mushi" earlier.
Me: Huh? You were talking to him?
Him: No, he was just passing me on his way to the bar.
Me: So he needed to get your attention?
Him: Not really, just greeting me or something. It happens. People say "ni hao" or "ching chong" and stuff. Not a big deal.

I'd never heard of this, and needed to take an immediate poll. Luckily, my group was deep in asians last night. I talked to four of them and they all confirmed that this happens to them.

What's funny is that I would ask them "Do white people ever randomly greet you in an asian language?" and they'd be like "Wtf, no," but then I'd describe what happened to Brian and they'd say "Oh that, yeah that happens." Also, initially they were all "whatever, happens" about it, but as I pressed the issue they got angry and went off about ignorance in America, etc.

The thing that most puzzles me is that apparently this happens in passing, in situations when a normal person would have no inclination to speak to the other person, regardless of race or whatever. These "greeters" are going out of their way to identify the other person. The closest we could get to relating it to a normal activity was me seeing someone with Cal apparel and giving them a "go bears," which is quite different because I'm actually trying to create a small bond with the other person, not point out how they're different.

Does this really happen? To other races as well? If so, is this misguided friendliness, simple ignorance, or outright bigotry?

I usually greet every slanty eyed person I meet with a friendly "ching chong". Nothing racist about it at all.

Mushi mushi is Japanese, your friend is Chinese. So is this racist or just ignorance or both? Are they more upset with the general Asian thing or being mis-identified as Japenese when Chinese etc?

Also, you're lucky they didn't kung fu your honkey white ass.

Moshi moshi is a phrase used when answering the phone in Japan.

Edit: "Greeters" like this don't run around saying "Top o' the mornin' to ya!" to white dudes. It's outright bigotry.

i'm asian, and this never happens to me, but my white friends that live in asia, always get "hello" and "how are you" from random asians.

weird.

I don't talk to people from other places.

Come to think of it, I got this a lot in Africa. You'd be in the middle of nowhere and some african dude would just come up and start repeating, "hello, hello, hello ... " over and over and over again.

Racist bastards.

where is poll option for "i do this"?

yeah I've gotten this in China and Japan, but only when someone actually wanted to talk to me to practice English. it wasn't a hit 'n' run as described in the OP.

I think its just misguided friendliness, I think if they were just trying to be racist theyd be like "whats up ****!".

It's like if I saw some deaf person and greeted them with a hello in american sign language, not knowing they really were french and spoke french sign language. Im not trying to belittle them for being deaf, im just trying to be friendly and prolly impress them that I know how to greet them (thus creating a bond, like "go bears!"), im just ignorant to the fact that not every deaf person speaks the same language, same way not every asian person is Japanese, or Chinese, or whatever country in my head I think every asian is from.

nothing wrong with saying ni hao to a guy you think is chinese.

in all seriousness, this has happened to me so little, that if it did happen, i'd be surprised. i'm even more shocked it happens in NYC.

i don't think it's a racist thing, but more of an ignorance thing. like calling asians orientals.

the last time i can remember this happening was when a drunk girl at a party tried to say hello to me in japanese (i'm korean), so i told her i was chinese and taught her a few "chinese" phrases (difficult, cause i coudlnt' remember what i taught her, and also my friend was trying his hardest not to laugh, which was making me want to laugh)

whenever i go to gas stations and indian clerks are working there, they always go out of their way to be nice to me. some ask me what i'm doing in vegas, usually try to give me free stuff. it's obv because many of them weren't born here so they try to identify with people from their culture. it's pretty cool imo.

what language do they speak to you in?

wait, can we clarify also. there's a huge difference between "ni hao" and "ching chong"

edit: unless ching chong means hello in some language i'm not familiar with?

I think it would be less weird if you had a reason to talk to the person. Like if I introduced you to Brian and you were like "Ni hao baby." But just seeing someone you think is Chinese and saying that seems really odd to me.

I say "Ciao!" to my Italian friends, but don't speak the language. They've yet to call me out for being racist....

lol @ misidentification, there's 0 difference between any Asian to 99% of America, including myself. And I'm proud of it imo.

Go Bears!



But really, its not a race thing, it's a minority thing. If you see me walking down the street in Berkeley you won't say "GO BEARS!" because Cal fans are the majority. If you see someone in Athens, GA or Knoxville TN wearing Cal gear you will get excited and throw out a "go bears!"

Ditto minorities. Black people give each other the "black guy nod," Asians will throw out a greeting, etc. when they are in a normal situation where they are a minority... just to create a bond or a small show of solidarity which minorities (be they racial, religious, gender, athletic fans, or whatever) show when they are in fact the minority.

For example, if you go to a MCB lecture at Cal, Asians aren't overly friendly with each other. In fact, it's usually whites, who are the mast majority, who might give each other the minority acknowledgment...

ok, that might make it weird, but doesn't make it racist.

yeah I meant for the question of whether or not it is racist to be up for debate. I should have titled the thread "greeting phenomenon between people of different races" or something.

Grandpa Simpson: Thank you Ping Pong

Ping Pong: My name is Craig

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that asian people are generally smaller and less intimidating, making them easy targets for people to let their "playful racism" out at. This is a totally different thing from saying "sup" to black people whereas you would say "hello" to white people. If you say "ching chong" its basically an abbreviated version of "oh me rikey da egg rolls honorable chinaman! blah blah". It's clearly meant to be demeaning as if all asians are the same and their language is just gibberish of "ching chong bing bong". Saying proper greetings or even saying Chinese greetings to japanese people or vice versa is probably them trying to be nice and make a connection, but simply failing at it.

clearly a neg.

racist or not: my friend is visiting and i'm out with her and like 9 of her friends that we've never met before. they're all asian, then it's me and my other white friend. we're having hot pot. one guy is passing out bowls to everyone at the beginning. he puts beef intestine in everyone's bowl except me and my friend without him or us saying anything about it.