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	yoritomo_reiko 2009-04-11 03:53 pm UTC (link)
	scratches head You know, I could have sworn I'd seen this somewhere else on JournalFen already, but damned if I can find the post now. Also, I absolutely do not have an ulterior motive of using this to say hi. At all. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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ellensmithee, 2009-04-11 04:39 pm UTC

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kalakagatha, 2009-04-12 01:41 am UTC

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felinephoenix, 2009-04-12 05:38 am UTC

	arionhunter 2009-04-11 03:56 pm UTC (link)
	他很愚蠢，也应该被炒鱿鱼了。 (Reply to this)(Thread)

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snarkhunter, 2009-04-11 10:22 pm UTC

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sizer, 2009-04-12 01:15 am UTC

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sizer, 2009-04-12 01:26 am UTC

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arionhunter, 2009-04-12 02:06 am UTC

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sizer, 2009-04-12 11:34 am UTC

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kosaginolegion, 2009-04-12 05:19 pm UTC

mei cuo! -

sizer, 2009-04-14 05:55 am UTC

Re: mei cuo! -

kosaginolegion, 2009-04-14 12:29 pm UTC

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isntitironic, 2009-04-12 02:53 am UTC

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vzg, 2009-04-13 04:37 am UTC

	doomsday 2009-04-11 03:57 pm UTC (link)
	“They want this to just be about race,” Berry said. Gee, maybe that's because it fucking is! (Reply to this)(Thread)

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erototoxin, 2009-04-11 05:58 pm UTC

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lady_ganesh, 2009-04-12 01:35 am UTC

	risha 2009-04-11 03:57 pm UTC (link)
	Wow, I... I really don't know what to say about this. (But I'm sure it would be unfunny if I did.) (Reply to this)

	cat_mcdougall 2009-04-11 04:41 pm UTC (link)
	Back later. Epically facepalming at the stupid. (Reply to this)

snarkhunter
2009-04-11 05:03 pm UTC (link)

I have nothing to say to this (FUCK YOU FUCKERS AND IF IT'S NOT ABOUT RACE, THEN WHY AREN'T YOU TELLING ME TO CHANGE MY UNPRONOUNCEABLE GERMAN LAST NAME, OR WHY AREN'T YOU GOING AFTER PEOPLE WITH, SAY, POLISH LAST NAMES OR HUNGARIAN OR SERBIAN NAMES?), so instead I'll just say that your Toph icon is wonderfully appropriate.

Toph would kick their asses from here to next week, and she'd do it with a smile on her face.

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the__ivorytower, 2009-04-11 05:17 pm UTC

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snarkhunter, 2009-04-11 08:23 pm UTC

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squeakytoy, 2009-04-12 07:09 am UTC

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winter, 2009-04-12 08:29 am UTC

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dandywolves, 2009-04-12 04:28 pm UTC

OT, but... -

kuromitsu, 2009-04-11 06:46 pm UTC

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snarkhunter, 2009-04-11 08:19 pm UTC

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kuromitsu, 2009-04-11 09:27 pm UTC

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deadrose, 2009-04-11 09:45 pm UTC

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isntitironic, 2009-04-12 12:27 am UTC

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snarkhunter, 2009-04-12 01:28 am UTC

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isntitironic, 2009-04-12 01:40 am UTC

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deadrose, 2009-04-12 01:48 am UTC

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isntitironic, 2009-04-12 02:51 am UTC

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deadrose, 2009-04-12 03:06 am UTC

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mary_mac, 2009-04-12 10:32 am UTC

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honorh, 2009-04-12 08:06 am UTC

Re: OT, but... - ariadne484, 2009-04-12 12:21 pm UTC

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honorh, 2009-04-14 01:02 pm UTC

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caito, 2009-04-13 01:36 am UTC

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honorh, 2009-04-14 01:03 pm UTC

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winter, 2009-04-11 07:56 pm UTC

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snarkhunter, 2009-04-11 08:21 pm UTC

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bemysty, 2009-04-11 11:43 pm UTC

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the__ivorytower, 2009-04-11 11:48 pm UTC

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snarkhunter, 2009-04-12 01:27 am UTC

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winter, 2009-04-12 06:25 am UTC

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jyuu, 2009-04-13 01:49 am UTC

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the__ivorytower
2009-04-11 05:16 pm UTC (link)

One of the girls I went to school with (I hesitate to call her a friend, because by the end of school I never wished to speak to her again) was Taiwanese, and she had people call her 'Tina' because they couldn't pronounce her name, at all. She was both surprised and impressed by the fact I could get it right after only a couple of tries.

I also know my ex-boyfriend's name is truncated from its original Ukranian in an effort to look 'less foreign' so that they would fit in better, though this was done at least a generation or two ago, either by his grandfather or his great-grandfather when they immigrated here.

Personally, if a name is hard to pronounce, I want someone to *tell* me, so I can get it right, then I'll try committing it to memory so I don't sound like a 'tard. Though, it may be because my last name is french, and I want to smack people who can't figure out how to pronounce it, anglicized or not.

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wtf, 2009-04-11 06:18 pm UTC

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illyria_jem, 2009-04-12 12:18 am UTC

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lady_ganesh, 2009-04-12 01:36 am UTC

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caito, 2009-04-13 01:17 am UTC

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bitca, 2009-04-14 09:09 pm UTC

	rekall 2009-04-11 05:25 pm UTC (link)
	Asian names are a lot easier/better than weird spellings of normal names and bizarre names both of which are big in the US right now. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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lizzypaul, 2009-04-11 05:36 pm UTC

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rodo, 2009-04-11 10:42 pm UTC

	wrenlet 2009-04-11 05:39 pm UTC (link)
	Fellow state Rep. Fischer has helpfully provided a Betty Brown Name Generator, to suggest alternative names that all poll workers can easily understand. (You really need a finely-tuned sense of humor to survive as a Democrat in this state. SIGH) (Reply to this)(Thread)

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lizzypaul, 2009-04-11 07:47 pm UTC

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finchbird, 2009-04-11 07:49 pm UTC

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spacelogic, 2009-04-11 09:03 pm UTC

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damnedfallacy, 2009-04-11 10:16 pm UTC

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harrylovesron, 2009-04-12 01:19 am UTC

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lady_ganesh, 2009-04-12 01:42 am UTC

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caito, 2009-04-13 01:30 am UTC

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issendai, 2009-04-12 03:52 am UTC

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honorh, 2009-04-12 08:10 am UTC

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felinephoenix, 2009-04-12 04:56 pm UTC

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bobafeis, 2009-04-12 08:48 pm UTC

	tachikoma01 2009-04-11 05:40 pm UTC (link)
	US Americans are too stoopid to deal with complicated names, don cha know? (Reply to this)

kuromitsu
2009-04-11 06:17 pm UTC (link)

*facepalm*

In elementary school I had two Vietnamese classmates who on their first day introduced themselves using Hungarian names because their parents and the headmaster reasoned that this way it'd be easier for both them and us.

To which our teacher said "FUCK NO" and "your names are not weird and the class will learn to pronounce them, dammit" and that was it. Of course out nobody ended up having any problems with their names, most of us actually thought they were cool. (I had problems with that teacher but sometimes she was awesome.)

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rodo, 2009-04-11 10:45 pm UTC

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nights_mistress, 2009-04-11 11:52 pm UTC

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kelmendi, 2009-04-12 01:19 am UTC

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vzg, 2009-04-13 04:46 am UTC

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rodo, 2009-04-13 05:27 am UTC

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vzg, 2009-04-13 06:40 am UTC

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floraposte, 2009-04-12 05:57 pm UTC

	tunxeh 2009-04-11 06:49 pm UTC (link)
	It gets even better. The difficult name of the person she was speaking to: Ko. (Reply to this)(Thread)

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lizzypaul, 2009-04-11 07:48 pm UTC

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sarajayechan, 2009-04-11 08:04 pm UTC

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persona, 2009-04-11 09:36 pm UTC

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fevered_ego, 2009-04-12 05:01 am UTC

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rganymede, 2009-04-12 07:27 am UTC

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negativecosine, 2009-04-12 05:58 pm UTC

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coffeebun, 2009-04-12 10:00 am UTC

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vejiicakes, 2009-04-13 05:38 am UTC

(no subject) - redwarrior, 2009-04-13 09:09 pm UTC

ravenbell
2009-04-11 07:18 pm UTC (link)

Someone has to take this lady aside and tell her it's okay to say things wrong and there's no shame in asking for help, but that she does not get to dictate the parameters of a major part of people's identities just because she's frustrated.

I went to a high school that had something like 58 kids with the family name Nguyen at the time (I worked on yearbook, they kept track). I'm sure not every teacher started out knowing how it was pronounced, but you know what? They figured it out. They made little notes on the role sheet. This shouldn't be a big deal.

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witty, 2009-04-11 08:34 pm UTC

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the__ivorytower, 2009-04-11 08:39 pm UTC

	finchbird 2009-04-11 07:57 pm UTC (link)
	Upon reading that article, one of my friends quoted Sendhil Ramamurthy, "What am I going to change it to? John Smith? That's ridiculous." (Reply to this)(Thread)

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moljn, 2009-04-11 10:01 pm UTC

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lady_ganesh, 2009-04-12 01:39 am UTC

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finchbird, 2009-04-12 07:25 am UTC

	sarajayechan 2009-04-11 08:03 pm UTC (link)
	Wow. Just when you thought racism couldn't get any more angrymaking. Seriously, what the fuck. "Hard to pronounce?" What kind of bullshit is that? (Reply to this)

damien
2009-04-11 08:16 pm UTC (link)

...wtf? My name's complicated for Westerners, and I occasionally consider the fact that if I become a professional writer, I'd need a pseudonym that's easy for people to pronounce (my current solution is to chop off my last name and turn my middle name into a last name), but that's COMPLETELY different to having someone force me to change it!

And 'Ko'. Really? REALLY? You can't figure out how to pronounce a name with two frickin' letters? What sort of idiot ARE you?!

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the__ivorytower, 2009-04-11 08:27 pm UTC

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vzg, 2009-04-13 04:50 am UTC

	the stupid, it is painful saperlipopette 2009-04-11 09:11 pm UTC (link)
	Hmm... 'Asians should use names that are easier for Americans to deal with.' So Asian Americans aren't real Americans, but they can still vote in American elections (and this issue isn't about race at all)? That's... interesting. Or perhaps that lawmaker is just made of fail. (Reply to this)(Thread)

Re: the stupid, it is painful -

spacelogic, 2009-04-11 09:39 pm UTC

Re: the stupid, it is painful -

isaiddietpepsi, 2009-04-11 09:54 pm UTC

Re: the stupid, it is painful -

spacelogic, 2009-04-11 10:05 pm UTC

Re: the stupid, it is painful -

bigbigtruck, 2009-04-11 11:51 pm UTC

isaiddietpepsi
2009-04-11 09:39 pm UTC (link)

Because names like Kim, Wu, Park, and Chang are sooooo difficult to pronounce!

I already have an Anglicized pronunciation of my Asian name, and if that's too tough for you, fuck off.

Plus, this Betty Brown apparently doesn't understand that her suggestion is PART OF THE PROBLEM! A lot of us Asians already get second, "American" names because we're tired of people constantly butchering our given names.

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frenzy, 2009-04-12 12:18 am UTC

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bobafeis, 2009-04-12 08:58 pm UTC

deadrose
2009-04-11 09:42 pm UTC (link)

Oh gosh! I guess I'd be in a world of hurt with her. When I got married to my ex, I traded in my long unpronouncable German surname for a short embarrassingly-pronouncable Dutch one. Which happens to also be a fairly common Chinese name. Kok.

I didn't run out of space filling out forms any more, and I still get advertisements mailed to me in Chinese. Betty Brown would have a stroke trying to figure out if it was a 'good' European name or a 'bad' Asian name :-)

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	nostariel 2009-04-11 10:16 pm UTC (link)
	WAT (Reply to this)(Thread)

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caito, 2009-04-13 01:39 am UTC

rhiannonmr
2009-04-11 11:50 pm UTC (link)

She's an idiot. I live in Texas and believe me if I can't pronounce someone's name I ASK that person for the correct pronunciation. Good God, I have a longassed surname that pronounces exactly LIKE it is spelled but people foul that up all the time. My maiden name was exactly 5 letters long and it was constantly mispronounced. BTW both names are European, and I never, ever thought I should change them to make it easier for the people I meet. Wonder what Ms Brown would do in Central Texas where there are still a lot of Czech and German names. Of course the measure she is defending is a voter suppression act.

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persona, 2009-04-12 05:31 am UTC

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rhiannonmr, 2009-04-12 06:14 am UTC

hyaenid
2009-04-11 11:56 pm UTC (link)

1. This already happens, does it not? My mom's maiden name is Park*, which I assure you does not exist in Korean. Neither does the name Kim. Or Lee, for that matter.

2. Actually, my mom's name and my name are not hard for Americans to pronounce. We are both Americans**, and we seem to be doing an okay job of it.

*It's pronounced "Bak", but despite the fact that Bak is a perfectly good romanisation and that that r in Park doesn't work in Korean, my mother's legal name in English is Park. I don't get it either.

**Did you know that non-white people are allowed to be Americans, too? And that some of them don't even speak English as a first language? Crazy! (Also, if you can't pronounce Park? I despair for you.)

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thebratqueen
2009-04-12 01:21 am UTC (link)

When my great-grandfather came over to the US he changed his Italian name into the one my family uses now because back then being Italian wasn't considered a good thing to be.

Almost nobody can pronounce my "American-acceptable" last name correctly on the first try.

So frankly even when Betty's wrong she's wrong. Or, perhaps more accurately, even when she's being appallingly racist she's also stupid.

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lady_jafaria, 2009-04-13 02:27 am UTC

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brennalarose, 2009-04-13 03:40 am UTC

	sizer 2009-04-12 01:25 am UTC (link)
	It should be a decree that all Americans adopt American names like Opechancanough, Itzananohk'u, and Chumani. (Reply to this)(Thread)