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Post by Graveyardbride on Jun 23, 2020 14:43:06 GMT -5
‘Phuc Bui’ Refuses to ‘Anglicize’ Name If you had a name that sounded like “Fuck boy” in English, would you consider changing it? Most people would, but when a professor at Laney College in Oakland, California, suggested Phuc Bui Diem Nguyen (above) “Anglicize” her name, she was insulted and now Professor Matthew Hubbard has been placed on administrative leave.
It all started when Hubbard sent Phuc Bui the following email:
Could you Anglicize your name? Phuc Bui sounds like an insult in English.
The overly-sensitive Phuc Bui replied:
Your request for me to "Anglicize" my name feels discriminatory and I will move forward with filing a complaint with the Title IX Office if you can not refer to me by my given birth name.
Hubbard, who obviously didn’t appreciate Phuc Bui’s over-reaction and threat, responded:
Your name in English sounds like Fuck Boy. If I lived in Vietnam and my name in your language sounded like Eat a Dick, I would change it to avoid embarrassment both on my part and on the part of the people who had to say it.
I understand you are offended, but you need to understand your name is an offensive sound in my language.
Phuc Bui, who has been going by the name “May,” for reasons she failed to disclose, insisted, “I never heard that before. At that moment, I was surprised, so I Googled the meaning – I didn’t know what it meant so I called my best friend to ask him what does that mean?” She also complained because Hubbard referred to her as “P-Nguyen” in a subsequent class.
Then Phuc Bui’s alleged sister chimed in with the following Instagram rant:
So I'm disgusted and disappointed. Honestly, I really liked laney college but this teacher had the ignorance and audacity to tell my sister to anglicized her name is disgusting. Anglicized means to make English in form of character. As a professor, he should be trying to learn her name and culture and not try to white wash her name. My sister graduated high school thinking she can finally be able to use her name. But this is fucking disgusting. I really hate cussing on social media but the fact that this white professor had the audacity to ask her to make her name easier is disgusting. If you read the last page, he's calling my sister's name an embarrassment and that it's sounds like an insult. I love that my parents want to keep my culture alive by keeping our Vietnamese name. If you can't say it then ask. In addition, Hubbard said that English is his language. But also forgot that my sister also spoke English and that's not his language.
Liberal progressives, always on the lookout for an opportunity to accuse someone of racism, rushed to Phuc Bui’s defense, posting thousands of comments condemning Hubbard for not asking how “Phuc Bui” is pronounced in Vietnamese, calling him “racist” (the liberal catchall word) and demanding the trigonometry professor be fired.
According to a statement by Tammeil Gilkerson, president of Laney College, the school is “aware of the allegations of racist and xenophobic messages from a faculty member at our college with a student about the pronunciation of their name” and has placed Hubbard on administrative leave pending an investigation.
“On the surface this incident is obviously disturbing and comes after decades of discussing and working to combat structural racism, xenophobia, and violence in both the Black and Asian Pacific Islander community,” Gilkerson continued, adding that while recent Supreme Court rulings “were huge victories” in longstanding battles for LGBTQ+ and immigrant protections, “we understand the need to still actively combat the deeply rooted anti-immigrant, anti-queer, and anti-Black racism spawned by white supremacy in this country that still continues.” Gilkerson didn’t explain how citing the fact a person’s name sounds like a derogatory expression constitutes “white supremacy.”
Nevertheless, among the thousands of accusations of racism, there were a few interesting comments by individuals who saw the incident from a different perspective:
Llewl: Phuc Bui needs to put on her big girl panties, grow up and stop acting like a spoiled brat with a big Asian chip on her shoulder.
IMB2: If the prof was wrong, why didn't she just tell him how the name is supposed to be pronounced? Fuck Boy is the reason so many people hate fucking immigrants.
SGI: If she didn't know what Phuc Bui meant, why was she going by May?
Sources: WTLV News, June 22, 2020; John Sunholm, ComicSands, June 22, 2020; Gwen Aviles, NBC News, June 19, 2020, and Facebook.
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Post by aprillynn93 on Jun 23, 2020 17:52:45 GMT -5
Perhaps had he approached the subject a little more delicately, it wouldn't have been as big of a deal. For instance, he could have simply asked if she was aware that her name sounded like "Fuck Boy" in English, instead of point blank asking her to change her name.
With racial tensions running high right now though, maybe it wouldn't have made a difference.
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Post by catherine on Jun 23, 2020 21:30:04 GMT -5
Perhaps had he approached the subject a little more delicately, it wouldn't have been as big of a deal. For instance, he could have simply asked if she was aware that her name sounded like "Fuck Boy" in English, instead of point blank asking her to change her name. With racial tensions running high right now though, maybe it wouldn't have made a difference. |
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Post by pat on Jun 24, 2020 7:34:43 GMT -5
We speak English in this country. People who come here should adapt to our language and our ways. If she wanted to be called by her silly, unAmerican name, it was her place to tell him how to pronounce it.
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Post by jason on Jun 24, 2020 8:02:00 GMT -5
If I'd been the professor, I wouldn't have said anything. I would have called her "Fuck Boy" in class and if she wanted her ugly-assed name pronounced differently, she could have explained how to pronounce it then -- after she'd been embarrassed in front of the other students.
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Post by madeline on Jun 24, 2020 13:50:00 GMT -5
I agree with Jason. No one should be expected to make allowances for foreigners. They're in a country created by our ancestors and they shouldn't expect us to learn how to pronounce their crappy names or make any other allowances for them. She should be thankful her family was allowed to come here.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2020 16:09:37 GMT -5
She should be thankful her family was allowed to come here. You mean like how we were thankful for the Native Americans letting us come here? |
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Post by madeline on Jun 24, 2020 19:22:52 GMT -5
You mean like how we were thankful for the Native Americans letting us come here? |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2020 20:12:04 GMT -5
I'm more concerned that a college employs someone to teach trigonometry. Is that normal?
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Post by catherine on Jun 24, 2020 20:35:21 GMT -5
I'm more concerned that a college employs someone to teach trigonometry. Is that normal?
Is calling yourself No. 4 your way of saying, "Hey, everybody, I'm a wanker"? |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2020 20:39:03 GMT -5
Is calling yourself No. 4 your way of saying, "Hey, everybody, I'm a wanker"?I don't need you to understand. I won't show you my allegory. |
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Post by catherine on Jun 24, 2020 20:42:21 GMT -5
I don't need you to understand. I won't show you my allegory. |
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Post by steve on Jun 24, 2020 20:51:55 GMT -5
Is calling yourself No. 4 your way of saying, "Hey, everybody, I'm a wanker"? Isn't that more British than American? |
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Post by catherine on Jun 24, 2020 20:55:52 GMT -5
Isn't that more British than American? |
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Post by Kate on Jun 24, 2020 21:07:10 GMT -5
"Wanker" is more British than American. |
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