Today, I wore my cool new shirt with an oriental character on it to class. The Chinese TA burst into laughter and told me the shirt read, "I am a sad, pathetic person." FML
I agree, your life sucks (5987) - you totally deserved it (22040)
On 11/14/2009 at 2:48pm - misc - by Molly (woman) - United States (Missouri)
If it's a single "character" I don't see how the single character can embody so much meaning: it has to be extrapolated. I'm Chinese and despite my pathetic Chinese standards I think I know enough characters to realize that either your TA is pranking you, or it's not just a single character on your shirt. The closest would be ”狗“ or something, meaning dog. Which is an insult even in Chinese culture.
Agreed, you can just play it off as a joke to anyone who can read it
#42 - On 11/14/2009 at 6:44pm by Sun_Kissed18
#8- yeah, because if you can speak it, you clearly don't understand it?
#49 - On 11/14/2009 at 8:01pm by tipsypiink
This is why I don't buy stuff with foreign lettering or words on them, unless I've confirmed what they say.
#11 - On 11/14/2009 at 5:26pm by DameGreyWulf
Asians. Always with the wisecracks. I saw that shirt and it actually said Super Cool Happy Fun Time.
Naw, but really. It's like seeing a tween with a 'vintage' Misfits t-shirt they bought at Hot Topix for $24.99. Really? You bought ♫ cred in the mall? In reality you should be cleansed by fire. Oh harrr I joke :}
Just ask them to name 3 songs and 2 albums and they'll learn their lesson.
#18 - On 11/14/2009 at 5:45pm by shaister
Yeah, I always made it a rule when I was that age not to own a band t-shirt until I owned at least one of their CDs.
But really, I think the kids who go around in Che Guevara t-shirts are much worse, because most of them don't know anything about him or his ideals. Or find it ironic that the shirt they bought with him on it was mass-produced and marketed.
Ohhh, I HATE that! Yeah, I don't get band t-shirts unless I actually know them, and I mean /know them/.
Some chick in one of my classes, Sophomore year, was wearing a Led Zeppelin shirt, and me and another guy drilled her about it. "I just thought the angel guy was pretty."
fffffffff
#45 - On 11/14/2009 at 7:16pm by DameGreyWulf
That shirt was specifically made for idiots who buy shirts with foreign characters just because they look cool.
YDI, but FYL, too.
#13 - On 11/14/2009 at 5:30pm by dudeitsdanny
one of my best friends got a chinese character tattoo and i almost laughed in her face. wearing stuff (or having a tattoo) with chinese characters (or whatever) just looks stupid and always turns out bad. unless you're chinese.
#16 - On 11/14/2009 at 5:43pm by starvingxartist
agreed! i have a tattoo in a different language, but i speak it and knew what it said. i hate when people have tattoos they dont understand. shirts are obviously less permanent, but thats still funny OP, sucks to be you right? hahahaha
#23 - On 11/14/2009 at 5:52pm by kisseshugsdrugs
kisseshugsdrugs, I agree. Same here. I know what my tattoo says because I speak that language. OP is obviously stupid.
#34 - On 11/14/2009 at 6:17pm by lostfaithinpppl
Hahaha. I hate with a passion when people get foreign symbols to look "cool" and they don't even know what it means. Lmao, I have an excuse to get a tattoo with a Chinese symbol since I am Chinese, and it is also a part of my Chinese name, not just some random symbol either. And by the way, you're lucky it wasn't a tattoo. You're life isn't f'd. Just don't wear the shirt anymore. Problem solved.
Yes (hahaha), we sneaky Asians. Because we all are right? hehehe ;) Did you stop to think that perhaps the shirt was made from a non-Asian? Hmmm, maybe.... :D
The Chinese TA burst into laughter and told me the shirt read, I am a sad, pathetic person.
#21 - On 11/14/2009 at 5:50pm by ConfuciusTweets
Can't it be a quotation as well because OP is directly quoting what she said?
#27 - On 11/14/2009 at 5:59pm by Lonely_Lez
Well, even if the characters don't literally say that, the TA is still telling the truth about the shirt.
edit..oops. wrong comment.
stupid fml comment thing.
#88 - On 11/15/2009 at 9:25am by myfriend_youfail
YDI for sporting something you can't even read. Just because it "looks cool" doesn't mean it means something cool.
It's funny though how there's just one character that says the whole statement "I am a sad pathetic person."
#25 - On 11/14/2009 at 5:57pm by GhostTrain
You know, it could be a character as in a person...like, a guy on the shirt and then some writing...just a thought...
#120 - On 11/19/2009 at 12:52pm by heatherjrock
The Chinese TA burst into laughter and told me the shirt read, "I am a sad, pathetic person."
#26 - On 11/14/2009 at 5:58pm by ConfuciusTweets
I thought so too. I don't do Chinese but Japanese is similar in that way right? Oh well, he is a sad pathetic person for wearing that shirt.
#53 - On 11/14/2009 at 9:34pm by PandaPandaPandaX
#53, sometimes. Japanese took Chinese letters (kanji), and use them. But they are not always an exact translation of each other, or can mean completely different things. :/ And sometimes the Japanese use the simplified Chinese character too...rabble rabble.
My friend got me a tie that said, "Epic failure as a human," in Japanese. But it was a gag gift, and I found it pretty funny.
#38 - On 11/14/2009 at 6:35pm by MiniatureMayhem
Oriental come from Latin, it means from the east. People use it to refer to anything/one from what's also known as the Far East. A Middle Easterner is also Asian, but not Oriental, so they aren't synonymous. I realize that many find it an offensive classification since it conflates several diverse cultures, but surely "Asian" is an even worse term in that regard.
That said, people are allowed to be irrational in what they don't like, but the term varies by region in offensiveness. On one end of the spectrum is British English where it's not offensive, and on the other is Canadian English where it is. American English falls somewhere in between, and it's rarely used in Australian English. I'm an American and used to use the term a lot in high school to refer to people before learning their specific nationality. I did so because China was harassing Taiwan at the time so the Taiwanese got very offended at being called Chinese for obvious reasons. The Russians and Middle Easterners laughed when I tried "Asian" so I figured "Oriental" was the best level of specificity. My Taiwanese, Chinese, and Thai friends all learned British English so nobody seemed to be offended, and it wasn't until I met "Asian-Americans" in college (i.e. natural born Americans who prefer to be defined by their 3rd - 6th generation immigrant status) that I learned of that issue.
All that said, he's referring to a character, not a person, so it's not generally considered offensive anywhere (i.e. a rug is a thing, as is a character). I suppose she could have say "Altanic or Sino-Tibetan character", but that's not as inclusive nor as commonly understood. Knowing the specific language would also work, but there are far too many characters for easy recognition of the script by non-speakers.
Is it so important to know their nationality to refer to someone? Wouldn't their names suffice?
#55 - On 11/14/2009 at 9:37pm by PandaPandaPandaX
please get a life. the fact that you spent so much time replying to my comment on a word that offends me as an asian american is kind of pathetic.
Sounds like something I'd do, on purpose. I've always wanted a random Chinese, Japanese (dirty knees, look at these. Ahaha) tattoo. I could care less about what it said, I just want to look like one of those 'cool' douche baggy people. Seriously, try to translate something correctly before wearing it.
#41 - On 11/14/2009 at 6:41pm by clockworkrainbow
My brother told some guy his "chinese" tattoo said "I enjoy penis". The guy freaked out. My brother and I may be half Asian but we don't actually speak any language other than English. The guy believed him anyway. It was pretty funny.
That was funny! :D
OP: I would verify that! :D Who knows if the TA was speaking the truth. Furthermore, if it is true and you still like the shirt, who cares. Wear it with pride! It's on your body and you're not offending anyone :) Some people may laugh, but you can laugh with them :D Not a FML
I wonder how your TA feels about all the people in China and other Asian countries wearing t-shirts with hilarious Engrish sayings on them that they clearly don't understand. Personally, I think it's awesome! I fully endorse wearing clothing you can't read.
I laughed for ages when I went to Japan. Shirts with horrible english on them, everywhere!
#57 - On 11/14/2009 at 9:40pm by PandaPandaPandaX
why is this YDI?? people wear shirts or have stuff that is in different languages and they themselves dont know or speak it. And how is that person suppose to check what it says? What if the employees dont know what it means? How do you type it up if you have a regular keyboard?
Anyways, this FML is just silly :)
#47 - On 11/14/2009 at 7:49pm by Red_Bull_yay
Well there are two ways:
1) Take a photo and ask someone. Come back to buy it later.
2) Learn the language before you buy a shirt written in it, so as not to be a tool.
Beautiful. I always hoped that some vendor would stick it to lame, trend-following morons by doing something like this. You think it's "rad' and "cool" to have Chinese words/symbols adorning your clothes? If you're not Asian yourself, then you're probably a douche. It's just another language's writing, get over it.
#48 - On 11/14/2009 at 7:51pm by Edumacated
As funny as this is, I think its even more hilarious that people are getting on the OP for wearing a shirt with Chinese writing in it saying its disrespectful, stupid, douchey, etc. Have you ever been to Asia and seen some of the shirts they wear there? Especially in Japan, Korea and China they wear TONS of shirts with English writing on it and most of the time they dont have any clue what it means either (like the little girl I saw wearing a shirt that said "Hand Fuck"). People all over the world wear clothing with writing in languages they dont understand on them (think of all the clothing with French and Italian writing on it) because written languages are graphically appealing. And yes its silly when something like what happens to the OP occurs, but dont get up on a high horse and preach about them being disrespectful.
Yeaaah, but they're being stupid douchebags too. They're all being stupid douchebags. What gave you the impression that any of us who critisized OP didn't think that?
You don't wear something you don't understand, especially not to "look cool." That's just asking to be made fun of.
#60 - On 11/14/2009 at 9:51pm by DameGreyWulf
he could just be messing with you. But I checked 3 or 4 sources for translation before I got a Japanese tattoo to make sure it didn't say "I like touching children" or something.
Never, ever get a tattoo in a foreign language unless you are absolutely certain what it translates to. I hate these douchebags who get tats with Chinese characters because it looks cool. You ask them what it stands for, they say things like "strength" or "power", but really they don't know for sure.
Just be glad you didn't get a Chinese letter tattoo!
#70 - On 11/14/2009 at 11:06pm by xx_irish_rose_xx
Well itd be A FML ONLY if she didn't tell you and continued to mock you without your being aware!!!
Lol
#71 - On 11/14/2009 at 11:10pm by Cristaderzi
thats hilarious!! i mean if i were wearing the shirt i would laugh! besides its not like you were in china and EVERYBODY knew what it meant.
#72 - On 11/14/2009 at 11:27pm by myepic_fail
I got this from direct web translation sites: 是一個哀傷的可憐的人 or 我是一个可悲的，可怜的人。 Neither are single characters :/
#75 - On 11/14/2009 at 11:48pm by PandaPandaPandaX
So did they actually say "baka gaijin" and "mugurushii"? Or was it in english?
#79 - On 11/15/2009 at 6:30am by PandaPandaPandaX
Yeah, but there's different words. That's the one I've learnt..
#114 - On 11/17/2009 at 2:02am by PandaPandaPandaX
'Oriental' character? That's so ridiculously racist. If the Chinese TA read it, then say it was a Chinese Character. Of course, it could be a Japanese kanji that means something else completely, considering they use the same characters with different meanings
Ridiculously racist? How so?
That's like me saying "Omg, you said chinese character! It should be Mandarin or Cantonese character! You think that everybody that's Chinese speak the same language! You racist bastard!"
And Japanese Kanji actually have a meaning that's close to or the same meaning as the the original Mandarin characters.
I think it's because the word "Oriental" is considered pretty racist nowadays.
As someone else pointed out, it's better than just saying "Chinese" when you have no idea if it's Chinese/Japanese/etc. But still, not the PC term.
there is no such thing as a mandarin character or a cantonese character. chinese written language is all the same. mandarin and cantonese are the same language but spoken w/ different accents. its equivalent to american english and uk english. and oriental is racist because there is no such place as the 'orient' there is the continent ASIA where china is so therefore we're asian.
You have no idea how incorrect you are. Most Mandarin characters are now what we call 'simplified'. Cantonese remains 'traditional'. The strokes are very different. if someone grew up on traditional characters, they'd have no idea what simplified characters mean. A Cantonese or Mandarin person would have to take lessons to learn each others' characters and speech. You have no idea how many times I hear/see a person speaking or showing a note full of Mandarin to a Cantonese person (the result would be awkward shrugging). So please don't just tell me "They're the same" without any knowledge of the languages. By the way, I'm Cantonese so I know what Im talking about.
Er...Not to veer off topic or anything, but I was compelled and confused by comment #113.
Both writing systems (traditional and simplified) are categorized as "Chinese". The Chinese writing system is not separated based on spoken dialects. The idea that traditional characters depict Cantonese and simplified characters depict Mandarin is fairly ludicrous. If this assumption were true, then wouldn't all the other dialects have a written system as well? Taishanese, Fujinese, Hakka, Shanghainese etc. etc.?
The simplified character system and Mandarin are the proclaimed official written language and spoken dialect of Mainland China but that does not in any way infer direct correlations between simplified Chinese characters and the Mandarin dialect.
Taiwanese people speak Mandarin as well, but they use traditional characters...
Hypothetically speaking, if we were to categorize the written Chinese language as "Mandarin", it wouldn't be completely absurd since Mandarin is spoken exactly as written Chinese is, well, written. But that would encompass BOTH simplified AND traditional characters, because although many characters are written differently, grammatically speaking, a sentence written in simplified Chinese is exactly the same, character for character, as the one written in traditional characters.
Cantonese, as you are no doubt aware, like many other dialects spoken by Chinese people is strictly colloquial. UNLESS when you refer to "Cantonese" writing, you are actually referring to the Cantonese specific characters that only Hong Kong uses. The "Hong Kong Supplementary Characters Set" stuff like 佢哋, 唔係...
If, for some reason or another, you've summed up the Cantonese dialect as Hong Kong, then you have erred in leaving out the little province in the mainland known as Guangdong...and SAR Macau...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but have I been so out of the loop that I failed to realized that the two written Chinese systems have somehow individually latched onto two of the many different dialects spoken in China?
Go up to an Asian person and call them an Oriental to find out just how offensive and racist it is ;) You won't be on their good side, I can guarantee it.
#119 - On 11/19/2009 at 12:49pm by heatherjrock
One of my friends bought a t-shirt in japan, that said "stupid foreigner" on the front, and "ugly" on the back...
It was pretty fun ^_^"
#85 - On 11/15/2009 at 5:54am by bakabutterfly
Isn't it good they said oriental, rather than just assume its "Chinese" or something. asis is the orient, its hardly racist. Speaking of ignorance, I don't think "Chinese" is a language either, despite all the posts here suggesting otherwise...
...yes, it is. There's Mandarin, Cantonese, etc., but all of them could be put under the category of "Chinese."
I have boxers with Chinese writing on them. looking for a young hot Asain girl to come tell me what they say.
If the shirt actually said anything like that, then I wish I could give the designer a high five because they are awesome.
#89 - On 11/15/2009 at 10:09am by coffee_addict7
It doesn't matter if it's Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, or whatever you fucknut- it's "Asian." Not "Oriental."
#91 - On 11/15/2009 at 12:17pm by paganheart89
How did this get past moderation? If you're dumb enough to believe this you should not be moderating.
Molly when ur faced with situations like these, where something embarrassing happened and just made you look like an idiot, just see the situation in someone elses view and laugh at yourself. When you laugh at yourself, the people laughing at you would find it less funny to laugh at you, since your not really considered a victim.
In high school i did something stupid and some dude pointed it out and everyone was laughing. I faked laughed as well and the laughing stopped immediately. :) :D
I always had this suspicious that the Asian-lettered t-shirts and tattoos might occasionally mean something different! I mean in Asia, you got Engrish, so why not the other way around. Lol.
Wow lol. In a way, I hate douchebags who question people on wearing band t-shirts to name songs/albums, just to prove their superiority. Then again, I hate douchebags who wear shirts of bands they don't actually listen to even more.
The best way to avoid either one is to wear band t-shirts of total classics who EVERYONE knows songs/albums, or t-shirts of bands very few people know about. In which case, anyone in the know of said underground band will just think you're awesome for liking the same music.
#98 - On 11/15/2009 at 10:33pm by ScaryyMary
Or you could just wear shirts of bands you actually like rather than wearing what you think will make you look cool to other people.
I loved the Stone Temple Pilots when I was in the sixth grade and bought a hat with the band name on it. I wore that hat all the time until some alter-than-thou kid confronted me and asked me to name 5 of their songs.
I'm really bad at remembering the names of songs and this kid made me REALLY nervous. I stuttered. He called me a poser, pushed me and walked away.
A few years ago he got shot in the face for being a douche. True story. The town newspaper tried to portray it as some big tragedy but everyone pretty much knew what happened.
There's a lesson in their somewhere.
#112 - On 11/16/2009 at 11:46pm by colorschemer
On the other hand, I live in Japan and see people wearing that same shit in English. Just the other day I saw a 20-something girl wearing a shirt that said "Titty Twister" across the front.
I live in Japan too and I'm already used to their Engrish. Meh, I don't find it all that annoying anymore with people using random Kanji/Chinese characters. I mean don't you feel awesome that people think your language looks cool? :D I mean you could just nicely tell them or show them the correct way to write it and stuff. It's not like people purposely want to tattoo or wear a shirt that's spelled wrong. I personally blame the manufacturers who produce things with words they don't know the meaning of (unless the nonsense is meant to be funny to begin with).
And I really don't think ethnicity has anything to do with having "rights" to wear things with foreign languages written on it.
#121 - On 11/19/2009 at 7:54pm by rub_a_dub_dub
I seriously doubt this is true; although many Chinese proverbs that are one or two sentences in English are four or five characters in Chinese, it's virtually impossible to get "I'm a sad, pathetic person" from one character. Either way, I'm pretty sure you are a sad, pathetic person that you used "Oriental" instead of "Asian"! How old are you?! Only old farty geriatrics refer to Asian people as Oriental because they're used to it, but the correct vernacular is "Asian". If you're not old and you don't know that by now, then that's pretty sad since I know that and I'm not even Asian; I'm African American, or does "Negro" sound more familiar to you?
#104 - On 11/16/2009 at 11:50am by AkihiroHattori5
wow seriously? i hate it when ppl think they understand something they really dont. a shirt like that is something azns would use in a prank for azn wannabes like my friend who thinks the character for "life" was "love." i'm chinese, so this has become a bit of a pet peeve for me.
A Chinese-American friend of mine totally use to do that to people when asian character tattoos were really popular among the douchey set. She would rarely lie about what the tattoo said. She would usually just keep looking at the tattoo and giggling uncontrollably, conspicuously whispering to me to look at it and start laughing.
Then during the SARS outbreak, she wore a medical mask around her college campus one day. She said that it was hilarious because people kept acting like she knew something they didn't.
I love her.
#111 - On 11/16/2009 at 11:41pm by colorschemer
It's a bit general to call someone Asian, isn't it, considering Asia is the largest continent and there's a much wider diversity across it? Don't you need better distinction between which part of Asia are you referring to, is the person Indian, Chinese, Kazakstani, etc? In Britain, Asian is used for people of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan origin, and I don't its use because people of what I call Oriental origin (and I'm included) are Asian as well, and in a way the general use of Asian is a bit racist.
Like calling White people Caucasian or Black people African. Totally racist. In fact calling a dog a "dog" instead of it's breed is completely insensitive and PETA will skin you for it.
It's better to use Asian than Oriental. No Asian person likes being called an Oriental. It refers to inanimate objects. For lack of a better term, Asian is fine.
#117 - On 11/19/2009 at 12:45pm by heatherjrock
Exactly! Oriental is NOT an ethnicity, people! Using this word makes you look stupid and ignorant!
#118 - On 11/19/2009 at 12:47pm by heatherjrock
Am I the only one who has always wondered how many of those tattoo designs and shirts say things like that?
lol, reminds me of a sketch on a comedy show
woman walks into tatoo shop
"I'm looking to get a chinese symble"
man pulls out book
"What does that one mean?"
"do you speak any chinese?"
"no"
"then it means wanker"
"oh, how bout that one?"
"Also wanker"
