The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXVII

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Does anyone know of any good map-making software for nerdy purposes?
Inkscape works, to a degree, but…
 
Personally I just do the old 1) make a hand drawn map; 2) scan it; 3) clean it up a bit with paint or gimp or something; 4) voila, map.

But admittedly that is rather limited in some aspects.
 
Well, that is limited to those who happen to have access to a scanner. Otherwise it'd be the best procedure.
 
Can you not do the same thing with paint, and convert the file to the format you need?
 
I'm not very good at drawing with a mouse, otherwise I'd keep at it with Paint/GIMP/Inkscape. :(
 
Hand draw it so that a mouse could "trace" your masterpiece?
 
This question is for people of east Asian heritage living in western countries:

Do westerners look stupid eating with chopsticks at Asian restaurants? I can't help but feel a little pretentious. Should I just use the knife and fork?
 
This question is for people of east Asian heritage living in western countries:

Do westerners look stupid eating with chopsticks at Asian restaurants? I can't help but feel a little pretentious. Should I just use the knife and fork?

Like a lot of instances where people of a different culture try to do stuff from another culture consciously, it depends on how and where you do it. If you do it adequately and don't draw attention to yourself (I.e. make it look like you're trying too hard to "fit in" when there's no need to), I don't think there's an issue. No need to say things like "Oooh look at how awesome and culturally aware I am using these chopsticks," but I think almost everyone save a few narcisstic pricks will do that. If you can't use chopsticks adequately then, yeah, you might look like a fool, but I don't think most of us Asians really care either way, there's a lot more better ways to offend us.

tl;dr: Probably not a problem either way. If some Asian person is being a prick about a non-Asian using chopsticks, they're probably, well, being a prick.

(In case nobody here knows, I'm one of them Vietnamians, and, thus, by extension, making me an infallible, all-knowing expert on all things Asian.)

Fun fact: I didn't figure out how to properly use chopsticks until I was 6 or something.
 
A follow-up question to the one about Westerners and chopsticks:

Do Asians prefer chopsticks or fork and knife? Do you get a choice when you eat at a restaurant/home what to use?
 
Do Asians prefer chopsticks or fork and knife? Do you get a choice when you eat at a restaurant/home what to use?
This made me think of my own question -- why has "Asian" become synonymous with oriental?
 
A follow-up question to the one about Westerners and chopsticks:

Do Asians prefer chopsticks or fork and knife? Do you get a choice when you eat at a restaurant/home what to use?

I think that depends on how assimilated into Western culture that person is, and, well, it also just depends. Me, and I think from experience a lot of fellow Asians who are second or 1.5 generation, really don't care either way. I just pick up whatever's the closest, which usually is forks at home, since we have more forks than chopsticks for whatever reason.

My brother does prefer to use chopsticks as a matter of pride, though.

This made me think of my own question -- why has "Asian" become synonymous with oriental?

Because 'Murica.

But honestly my wildly uneducated guess is that it's just a convenient shorthand for "East Asian" because East Asians were the more prominent Asian group in America (in contrast to, say, folks from South Asia in Britain, hence why there Asian = South Asian).
 
Is it hard to flick peas at your siblings with chopsticks?

I've never even thought about using that.


I have used chopsticks as impromptu sparring swords before. Of course, being the child I was, my parents were not too happy at the time.
 
Because 'Murica.

But honestly my wildly uneducated guess is that it's just a convenient shorthand for "East Asian" because East Asians were the more prominent Asian group in America (in contrast to, say, folks from South Asia in Britain, hence why there Asian = South Asian).

Blame the Latin speakers. They are the ones who called the rising and setting sun orient and occident. Or Europe, cause they named everything east of them oriental.
 
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