4 ms·

Ouch, I'm not sure what that says that I immediately wondered if you were a minority. Oh, and I had a similar experience re: Melbourne. I'm a US citizen livin

by mech4bg 15y ago

Ouch, I'm not sure what that says that I immediately wondered if you were a minority. Oh, and I had a similar experience re: Melbourne. I'm a US citizen living in Australia, and was landing in San Fran for a 3 week visit about 8 years ago. As required by law, I travel on my US passport in and out of the US, so no problem right? But no, I start getting the third degree about what I do with myself - "I'm a student at the University of Melbourne" - "What is that? A college? What's Melbourne?" - err, where I just came from, and its best known University.

yummyfajitas 15y ago
It says you are familiar with the historical racist usage of "boy"? (For non-Americans: a common racial slur in the southern US during the Jim Crow era was to call an adult black man "boy".)
- vacri 15y ago
  There was a curious culture clash in the '60s when Muhammad Ali was in Australia doing a meet'n'greet and a local TV personality was doing a light-hearted interview with him, and threw in the phrase 'I like the boy', referring to Ali. The phrase was a slogan for a product that the local celebrity had been involved with, and didn't have the connotations here that it did in Ali's home country... the interview went sour fast.
  - twopi 15y ago
    "I like the boy" really just refers to a young male the way its said here, in Australia anyway. However, having watched enough American films, people are exposed to the "something something, boy." usage and aware of its connotations. These days you might say "guy" instead of "boy" but for no particular reason except that languages change. In older English films, you often hear "my boy", which also doesn't have the same connotations. Across cultural boundaries, the same words can mean different things. Nonetheless, I'd be offended if someone referred to me as "boy" when directly addressing me because of the connotations that come from a culture separate to my own.
    - vacri 15y ago
      I imagine being referred to as 'boy' while your passport is airborne is offensive everywhere :) here's the video (can't confirm audio on this machine) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWKyDGGptA4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWKyDGGptA4 corrections to my story: - late '70s - misunderstanding was acknowledged and forgiven
furyg3 15y ago
I live in Holland (US Citizen) and get a long series of questions about 50% of the time when crossing the US border. "Do you live in Holland? What do you do there? What are you doing on your visit back home?" I usually (happily, respectfully) humor them for a few questions, and then switch to "am I free to go?" (with a smile). Only once has this resulted in a small temper-tantrum by the agent (after which he just let me go). They cannot deny you entry, they can only delay it for a while and conduct extra searches.

by mech4bg 15y ago

yummyfajitas 15y ago

It says you are familiar with the historical racist usage of "boy"? (For non-Americans: a common racial slur in the southern US during the Jim Crow era was to call an adult black man "boy".)

vacri 15y ago
There was a curious culture clash in the '60s when Muhammad Ali was in Australia doing a meet'n'greet and a local TV personality was doing a light-hearted interview with him, and threw in the phrase 'I like the boy', referring to Ali. The phrase was a slogan for a product that the local celebrity had been involved with, and didn't have the connotations here that it did in Ali's home country... the interview went sour fast.
- twopi 15y ago
  "I like the boy" really just refers to a young male the way its said here, in Australia anyway. However, having watched enough American films, people are exposed to the "something something, boy." usage and aware of its connotations. These days you might say "guy" instead of "boy" but for no particular reason except that languages change. In older English films, you often hear "my boy", which also doesn't have the same connotations. Across cultural boundaries, the same words can mean different things. Nonetheless, I'd be offended if someone referred to me as "boy" when directly addressing me because of the connotations that come from a culture separate to my own.
  - vacri 15y ago
    I imagine being referred to as 'boy' while your passport is airborne is offensive everywhere :) here's the video (can't confirm audio on this machine) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWKyDGGptA4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWKyDGGptA4 corrections to my story: - late '70s - misunderstanding was acknowledged and forgiven

furyg3 15y ago

I live in Holland (US Citizen) and get a long series of questions about 50% of the time when crossing the US border. "Do you live in Holland? What do you do there? What are you doing on your visit back home?" I usually (happily, respectfully) humor them for a few questions, and then switch to "am I free to go?" (with a smile). Only once has this resulted in a small temper-tantrum by the agent (after which he just let me go). They cannot deny you entry, they can only delay it for a while and conduct extra searches.