You can bluntly comment on someone being fat or short in China and it's chill, but people get offended the moment you imply they're old...

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• remon@ani.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Understandable, as Asian people don’t seem to age until they are like 60 at which point they instantly turn into looking like 90.

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  • rafoix@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    That’s just an online stereotype.

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    • ThePantser@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Stereotypes are based on observable real events. They are not randomly made up.

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  • IndignantIguana@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I’ve always wondered if that had something to do with the cultural revolution in China in the late ‘60s early ‘70s. Like was there something about living in that time that made you look older as you aged? And maybe the people born well after that time just weren’t under that kind of stress and ended up looking younger.

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    • rumschlumpel@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      This stereotype isn’t China-specific, though. For Japan, the cutoff point would be WW2, which is the same as for most of Europe.

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• mojofrododojo@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  eh, it’s hardly isolated to china, people are jerks everywhere. the only things that change are the cultural mores and tropes.

  sorry humans are like this bro.

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• Paragone@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  That’s funny-as-hell: whatever culture my soul/continuum’s previous human-category-life was in, being called young was an insult.

  I’ve never understood why anybody would want to be “young” instead of “old”, because when you’re old, you’ve outgrown foolish-nonunderstanding/ignorance…

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  • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Schrodinger’s age: It can be both a complement and insult until you observe their intentions.

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    • samburwell96@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Yeah I suppose thats my question, is it like in the U.S. it can be a little minefield implying someones wizened or experienced without being old? Like the trap of of you know so much because you’ve been around, than just calling someone old?

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  • rumschlumpel@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    “old” also means less healthy. No one wants to have backpain and the like.

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• DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  I can only speak for myself, but I don’t mind being called “old” at age 60, because I’d rather be old than dead. “Old” means I’m still alive and kicking, and not everyone gets to be old. I am old, at least the accusation is true. Also, I feel like I finally fully understand my parents, though they both died years ago.

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• blattrules@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Gonna keep this in my pocket until next time one of my Asian friends asks if I’m gaining weight.

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• rumschlumpel@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Don’t east asian countries put tons of value on seniority? Is this changing, is china just not like that, or is there something else that I’m misunderstanding?

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  • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Different terms

    For example: Its impolite to calm someone 阿姨 (Auntie), and you’re supposed to say 靚姐 (idk how to translate this, it’s [beautiful/pretty] + [character for “older sister”]).

    On the other hand, 老師 (Teacher), 老細 (Boss), or 師傅 (to address someone that has learned a trade) are considered polite (at least that’s what I hear my mom use). Similarly 老爺 is used by mom to address my paternal grandfather. These all have the 老 (old) character in it but its fine??? I guess 🤷‍♂️

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    • joyjoy@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Damn, they’ve been using unc as an insult all this time? 

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    • fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      “Oh i didnt know you had a beautiful sister!” Is a wierd type rope kind of flirt in (american?) English that i know of.

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    • rumschlumpel@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Interesting, seems like a very gendered issue.

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• samburwell96@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Oh yeah, what about the fat thing? Is it about endearment, or is Chinese culture just ‘edgy’ like that?

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  • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Idk. But I remember my mom calling a 肥仔 in a light-hearted tone and I sort of felt the endearment… like my first instinct was oh mom’s teasing me again, like I didn’t feel offended at all, just annoyed that it become my nickname. If I had to make a comparison: I guess it’s sort of like calling a fat cat a “Chonker”

    I wasn’t even that fat by American standards lol, literally at the time, in school there were kids bigger than me in the same grade.

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