
Professor suspended for using Chinese word that sounds like Racial Slur - zadkey
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/09/08/professor-suspended-saying-chinese-word-sounds-english-slur
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zadkey
This man has done nothing wrong.

What I find problematic is that for the sake of racial sensitivity
universities are willing to remove teachers even if the teacher hasn't done
anything wrong. I agree that racism is a sore point in the current American
social atmosphere, but we should not engage in an appeasement doctrine that
sacrifices the innocent.

~~~
foolzcrow
So woke they are unable to learn foreign languages.

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weknowbetter
The comments here so far seem to be jumping to conclusions. Commenters are
being quick to defend the professor. I'm not sure that the full situation is
being understood.

It seems there are three important points being overlooked.

\- It seems that the phrase he said was not directly related to the course
material.

\- He was politely asked to stop saying it.

\- He was likely not even pronouncing the phrase correctly and the correct
pronunciation does is not easily confused with a racial slur.

> The students said some of them had voiced their concern to Patton during his
> lecture, but that he’d used the word in following class sections anyway.
> They also said they’d reached out to fellow Chinese students, who “confirmed
> that the pronunciation of this word is much different than what Professor
> Patton described in class. The word is most commonly used with a pause in
> between both syllables.”

This seems to me that there is an underlying problem/tension between this
professor and his students who are people of color.

~~~
joncampbelldev
I am currently learning mandarin and my wife is chinese. This word, Na Ge
(sometimes pronounced Ney Guh), can be said in rapid succession with little to
no pauses between syllables, like an english speaker saying "um-um-um-um" or
"yeah-yeah-yeah". Difficult to find a spoken version of this online, but
please have a listen to this song [0] timestamped to the appropriate point.

A course on business communication in a segment apparently about "filler
words" seems completely appropriate.

What concerns can these students have beyond "I am unable to handle foreign
languages spoken in my presence"? These people better not visit a macdonalds
in china because all the children around them will be shouting na ge whilst
pointing at the menus.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNRgHUs17vY&t=15s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNRgHUs17vY&t=15s)

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mindcrime
This is the height of stupidity. And a good example of why I endorse being
"woke" but not "Woke", if you get what I mean. This is just rampant, over-the-
top, completely unjustified hysteria.

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fsflover
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24397574](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24397574)

