Posted on 07/30/2018 7:07:44 AM PDT by EdnaMode
Jeremy Hunt, the new British foreign secretary, made a diplomatic gaffe on Monday, calling his Chinese-born wife Japanese during a discussion with his counterpart in Beijing.
China and Japan have been longtime military rivals: During the 1930s and 1940s, Japan invaded and seized much of China.
Mr. Hunt committed the flub during a meeting with Chinas foreign minister, Wang Yi.
My wife is Japanese my wife is Chinese, he said. Thats a terrible mistake to make.
My wife is Chinese and my children are half-Chinese, and so we have Chinese grandparents who live in Xian and strong family connections in China, he added. His wife, the former Lucia Guo, hails from that ancient city in central China.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
They must be very close. :D
Yeah, I remember the time I called my wife African American even though she’s a Lilly white, red-headed Irish girl.
I mean, they all look alike, right?
We all look arike.........................
My Chinese wife would have my ears for a handbag if I ever called her Japanese
Not just China, but his wife will be angry with him as well!
All cats are gray in the dark
I have had a lot of Asian friends in my lifetime. In fact, it’s not just Asians. Call a Ukrainan a Russian and see how that works out for you.
Same with Korean vs Japanese, etc. And especially if you are married to them. :)
Reading about it, it sounds terrible. How can this guy possibly get his wife’s ethnicity wrong? And yet who amongst us hasn’t had the occasional brain hiccup where the wrong words inexplicably come out? Even family members occasionally call each other by the wrong name. I’ve done it. And it’s been done to me. Stand back from it, isolate it and it looks terrible. How can someone possibly mistake one sister for another, etc? And yet there it is. It happens.
Calling by the wrong name is different.
If your wife is Asian, you know what nationality she is and mixing up the names is almost as blatant as calling your white wife black. The depth of knowledge one would have about why it’s a no-no would be so overwhelming it would be hard to do. Calling one of your kids by another one’s name is not that unusual and not a no-no.
I agree that it is possible, and I’d not get upset if my wife called me French, but since she knows I’m welsh, I can’t imagine her doing it.
I mean, they all look alike, right?
Yep. I think to put it in perspective, it would be like your Asian wife calling you German or Scandinavian, but you are French. I can’t imagine that happening unless she doesn’t know you very well.
Wanna get away?
It’s like referring to a Polish person as a “Russian”.
It’s like referring to an American as a Canadian!
GRRRRR!
Hehe.
Oh, no!!! Not a gaffe!!! How will we ever survive?
Well.. They all got a chuckle out of it!
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