While We Wait: Part 4

[alex994]

Personally speaking, at the LAX, all the minorities get pulled over for inspection but not those of what we would call "White" ethnicity. I didn't notice until my parents pointed it out, go figure

 

[Luckymoose]

Personally speaking, at the LAX, all the minorities get pulled over for inspection but not those of what we would call "White" ethnicity. I didn't notice until my parents pointed it out, go figure

We did invent the airplane, I think we can choose who can go on them or not.

 

[Dachs]

Reagan doesn't have terribly hassling security. Is Dulles all that different?

Reagan has basically no international flights - it's even in the title of the airport. Nothing from more than a thousand miles away, I think. Therefore, security can be lax(er) there. But to be honest, on a normal, non-holiday day, the wait at Dulles isn't much different from the wait on the Beltway or 66.

 

[alex994]

We did invent the airplane, I think we can choose who can go on them or not.

No, it wasn't during when we were getting on, it was when we just got OFF the planes

 

[Symphony D.]

Cons: Feeling like you've got a concealed bomb when the TSA guy looks at you, bloody expensive Orangina cans.

Whatever. In 2006 when returning from Basic, I managed to get onto a flight in San Antonio using nothing but my Social Security Card (as I had no picture ID at the time). I also managed to order free (!) alcoholic beverages on the flight without getting carded (!!), despite having been 19 at the time.

Really stupendous security we've got these days.

 

[Luckymoose]

Whatever. In 2006 when returning from Basic, I managed to get onto a flight in San Antonio using nothing but my Social Security Card (as I had no picture ID at the time).

You are white.

 

[Symphony D.]

You are white.

Actually I'm 1/8 Sioux and 1/8 Cherokee, cracker.

On the subject of races though, I really do have to say nobody ever came up with a good epithet for white people. I mean seriously, "honky?" That just makes me want to laugh, not be offended.

 

[alex994]

Well, I know some of my relatives call white people "Gui lo" in Cantonese, or basically devil people or something along those lines. Of course, you may not have heard it since it is considered rather rude to say around white people

Well, there are no good epithets in English at least.

EDIT: There's actually a wiki link for it! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gweilo How weird!

 

[Symphony D.]

Well, I know some of my relatives call white people "Gui lo" in Cantonese, or basically devil people or something along those lines. Of course, you may not have heard it since it is considered rather rude to say around white people

I thought it was "Gwailo." And it means "Ghost." Get it right. Yeah, that's right, I'm hip to your Cantonese speak, I got a source on the inside. I do find it interesting the words for foreigners or outsiders in Cantonese, Japanese (gaijin) and Spanish (gringo) all have that "Guh" sound at the beginning. Odd coincidence.

I do support addressing anyone from the PRC, North Korea, or Cuba as "Conrad," just to confuse them. Also since comrade has apparently become slang for gay in the PRC, you get double points there.

 

[kkmo]

Actually I'm 1/8 Sioux and 1/8 Cherokee, cracker.

On the subject of races though, I really do have to say nobody ever came up with a good epithet for white people. I mean seriously, "honky?" That just makes me want to laugh, not be offended.

Last time I checked white Americans were never persecuted, nor was there ever a sense of controlling racism directed towards the race. No . .. .. .. . you're not offended by epithets.

 

[flyingchicken]

I've never actually heard people do this, but people say that Filipinos call all American men "Joe". It's probably offensive to some people.

 

[alex994]

I thought it was "Gwailo." And it means "Ghost." Get it right. Yeah, that's right, I'm hip to your Cantonese speak, I got a source on the inside.

Literally it means ghost, but it's origin would be to curse said white people as "Foreign Devils" even if we Cantonese don't see it as racist.., And no, it's not "Gwailo" at all since the a is so inaccurate. So if your source told you that's how it's pronounced, he/she FAILS at Cantonese symphony

Gwailo seems more like "strange guy" in Cantonese, with gwai not meaning ghost but guai (pinyin) as in strange...

 

[Symphony D.]

Last time I checked white Americans were never persecuted, nor was there ever a sense of controlling racism directed towards the race.

That's incorrect by a light year, sir. There is a reason for the past fifty years that it's been preferable to identify yourself as a Canadian when traveling overseas.

Getting upset over words is stupid and overrated anyway, and I personally hate the degree to which political correctness has been taken in America (and elsewhere). It's ludicrous. It's when those words become associated with physical discrimination and violence that they gain power--using them flippantly, just as with any word, decreases that power and meaning. Reserving them and making them taboo increases it, which is precisely why being PC is ********. If somebody calls you a name, laugh in their face and throw it back at them. It's when they start taking action that you beat the crap out of them for it.

So if your source told you that's how it's pronounced, he/she FAILS at Cantonese symphony

I remember seeing it written that way somewhere. Could've been the Wade-Giles version, dunno.

 

[Dachs]

I do support addressing anyone from the PRC, North Korea, or Cuba as "Conrad," just to confuse them.

Conrad also has the benefit of being a hilarious name. It goes well with anything, including fava beans and a nice Chianti.

 

[alex994]

I remember seeing it written that way somewhere. Could've been the Wade-Giles version, dunno.

Well, the Wades-Giles form is kind of for Standard Mandarin so it wouldn't apply to Cantonese. On the other hand, there is pretty much no standard for Cantonese written using an alphabet so things tend to get really confusing when Cantonese speakers try to figure out what the words are supposed to be

 

[flyingchicken]

Topic: Putting things into perspective for player-moderator relations.
Question: How much work in terms of resources spent is poured into an update?

 

[kkmo]

That's incorrect by a light year, sir. There is a reason for the past fifty years that it's been preferable to identify yourself as a Canadian when traveling overseas.

Getting upset over words is stupid and overrated anyway, and I personally hate the degree to which political correctness has been taken in America (and elsewhere). It's ludicrous. It's when those words become associated with physical discrimination and violence that they gain power--using them flippantly, just as with any word, decreases that power and meaning. Reserving them and making them taboo increases it, which is precisely why being PC is ********.

I couldn't agree more. Being overly PC is ********. But, I'm sure someone that is not in as comfortable of circumstances might think otherwise. And you have to respect this as well.

Incorrect by a light year? If you for one second think that Americans having to recently label themselves Canadian while traveling is anywhere close to the persecution various peoples and races have experienced over history, or the persecution of races within America over its history, then you must be taking some crazy pills.

I am actually fairly well-traveled in the last four years, and most educated people from about any country except perhaps radical Islamic countries (I've never been to a radical Islamic country, so I don't know for sure) will know the difference between a douchebag American and an American who does not identify with their government. People know it. And hell, I'm from Texas, and the amount of crap I got (which was none), even when first meeting people, was no where near, say, oh I don't know, lynchings or segregation. In fact, the only crap I got for being from America, and from Texas, was from other Americans.

In fact, a lot of educated people overseas know that one of the charms of an American is that they often do not identify with their government. Isn't that the American way, after all?

 

[Dachs]

I'm going to get in trouble for discussing this at 2 AM when I'm not coherent. Oh well.

Topic: Putting things into perspective for player-moderator relations.
Question: How much work in terms of resources spent is poured into an update?

It depends. Seriously, though, some moderators will devote a huge amount of time and effort into making sure that everything syncs up with everything else, with OTL (if applicable), with ATL (if applicable), with the basic concepts in economics, politics, and military theory that (ought to) prevent NESers from just going around and doing stupid . .. .. .. ., and writing in an appreciable amount of stuff so that players get what they put into it. (Because, hell, I know *I'd* be pissed if I wrote a full PM of orders without excessive detail, just had a lot to cover, and the mod went over it in relatively simplistic terms.)

Compared to the actual update writing itself, the stats and map, unlike what a lot of people might think, don't actually take that long. (It might be different for Symphony D., who makes multiple high-quality maps for a single update, but then again, since my knowledge of digital image manipulation and creation is extremely limited, I couldn't tell you about that too much.) Most of what I found myself doing during DaNES I was trying to find time to write a reasonably coherent update that didn't feel too short, because a shorter update would mean (to me) that I was cheating my players. Trying to squeeze that in along with college apps and the first half of senior year (the half where you really have to not screw around with schoolwork) was unwise at best. It'd have worked better if I'd been able to set aside blocks of time of enough size, but what with all I had to do I didn't have the aforementioned blocks.

Sorry that that turned into a whiny self-justification for DaNES I failing, but there you go.

 

[Luckymoose]

Actually I'm 1/8 Sioux and 1/8 Cherokee, cracker.

On the subject of races though, I really do have to say nobody ever came up with a good epithet for white people. I mean seriously, "honky?" That just makes me want to laugh, not be offended.

I am 1/4 Cherokee. You mutt.

 

[Symphony D.]

Incorrect by a light year? If you for one second think that Americans having to recently label themselves Canadian while traveling is anywhere close to the persecution various peoples and races have experienced over history, or the persecution of races within America over its history, then you must be taking some crazy pills.

Discrimination is discrimination, and discrimination is persecution. I'm not here to debate with you about what group has had it the worst. I don't care. Degree is irrelevant. You want to say that French citizens snubbing Americans simply because of who they are is less bad than the Holocaust or the Trail of Tears or whatever, fine, you're right.

All continue to suck however, and your claim that Americans are not discriminated against is flatly wrong. I don't care and made no claims about the relative scale of the wrongs inflicted on people, because I'm not running a documentary on humanity's greatest atrocities.

In fact, a lot of educated people overseas know that one of the charms of an American is that they often do not identify with their government.

Being treated like crap just because you agree with certain policy decisions is just as much discrimination as anything else is, and is really no excuse. "You're publicly supporting the Bush government in front of me, so I will be an ass to you" is every bit the dick move that "Oh, you're white, so I'm going to set your car on fire" is.

People want to change other people's opinions or settle an issue, there's two ways of doing it: debate, or guns. Philosophy and violence. Everything else is just a waste of time. Philosophy's preferable.

I am 1/4 Cherokee. You mutt.

Just means you got more of the "I'm sure if we just talk to'em..." tribe genes. Lot of good that did, eh?