(Never mind that Chinese people find “ni hao” to be super fake!)
This actually doesn’t happen to me very often (living in immigrant Los Angeles does have its bright sides) but I’ve been greeted with “konnichiwa” or “are you Japanese” all over the place: central Pennsylvania, northern Argentina, and even Taiwan! What’s the most annoying racialized/othering greeting you’ve ever gotten?
Video via Asian Australian News.
March 18, 2012 at 8:48 pm
Oh, go to the touristy Avenida Revolucion in Tijuana, Mexico. If you’re a slant-eyed tourist like me, you’ll get assailed with “Ni haos”, “Ma ma fu fus”, and “konichiwas” in the utmost condescending manner.
March 18, 2012 at 9:05 pm
And if lucky enough, some folks may even throw in a bit of “chinito.”
March 22, 2012 at 11:09 am
After spending some time in Argentina I became ambivalent about that. In many Latin American cultures, everyone gets an unflattering nickname, and in many cases it’s more affectionate than anything else.