Waht color your phone? pt 2
In a multicultural society like ours, and listening to the voice over the phone line, the assumptions are …if you don’t sound like a Chinese, neither a Malay (with their own distinct intonations), then you must be Indian-lar! How smart aah we ?
But here is where stereo-typing is rampant and without us even realizing it..
We tend to stereotype more than we realize. ( and not just over the phone..)
Quaint how some Malaysians seem to have your life all figured out. And you just met them 10 minutes ago.
I am NO longer surprised when some of the people I meet would actually say things that are rather off topic.
” eh… where your Merz (Mercedes) aahh.. . . this one your son’s car aah ?” (refers to Betsy, my old faithful...)
(Because they think I fit the bill of the somewhat rich Chinese...)
“No lah this is my car.. “ I reply dryly.
“Aiyo.. why u bluffing!” they reply matter-of-factly. Very smart. ah. . you use this to drive around to show house, but keep your Merz at home..
(they offer their conclusion to this discordant picture……sigh .. tell me more .)
Equally so, some few Malaysians seem have a penchant to comment on how you look.
Either that or I must be carrying a sign over my head “Please. . feel free to comment!” because people seem to enjoy passing unsolicited comments. I mean, like it is the first few things 'friends' say to you soon after we meet …
“ Oh .. why you look so …… etc, etc.”.... or ... " waahh, now you ...etc"
I mean, it’s nice when they are positive, but quite often I am rather surprised at how ‘free’ they are passing unhelpful comments?
(This, have to say, is more prevalent among the Chinese … must something of our culture that feels so right when we offer our two cents . . .but at no charge)
Or maybe it’s their “way” of showing how much concern and care they have for you, like it is their duty to alert you to something you should know . . (yeah2 Tq, I put on 30 pounds,
(IS THAT OK WITH YOU?)
But I digress. ;)
So we stereotype more than we realize. I think the reason people stereotype is because it helps us to understand the world outside us and puts ‘order’ to how we would respond to it.
Or perhaps we are just too lazy to uncover the surface how a person really is or worse maybe we just don’t care or don’t want to…
Engaging someone takes time and energy both of which is found wanting in our present world. Also, the risk of ‘accepting and being accepted’ is always precarious. . so sometimes we rather put them into neat little boxes.
Yeah, and sometimes we tend do the same to our own selves too … but that’s the stuff for another time ….. to box or not to box (smile).
...later yo
But here is where stereo-typing is rampant and without us even realizing it..
We tend to stereotype more than we realize. ( and not just over the phone..)
Quaint how some Malaysians seem to have your life all figured out. And you just met them 10 minutes ago.
I am NO longer surprised when some of the people I meet would actually say things that are rather off topic.
” eh… where your Merz (Mercedes) aahh.. . . this one your son’s car aah ?” (refers to Betsy, my old faithful...)
(Because they think I fit the bill of the somewhat rich Chinese...)
“No lah this is my car.. “ I reply dryly.
“Aiyo.. why u bluffing!” they reply matter-of-factly. Very smart. ah. . you use this to drive around to show house, but keep your Merz at home..
(they offer their conclusion to this discordant picture……sigh .. tell me more .)
Equally so, some few Malaysians seem have a penchant to comment on how you look.
Either that or I must be carrying a sign over my head “Please. . feel free to comment!” because people seem to enjoy passing unsolicited comments. I mean, like it is the first few things 'friends' say to you soon after we meet …
“ Oh .. why you look so …… etc, etc.”.... or ... " waahh, now you ...etc"
I mean, it’s nice when they are positive, but quite often I am rather surprised at how ‘free’ they are passing unhelpful comments?
(This, have to say, is more prevalent among the Chinese … must something of our culture that feels so right when we offer our two cents . . .but at no charge)
Or maybe it’s their “way” of showing how much concern and care they have for you, like it is their duty to alert you to something you should know . . (yeah2 Tq, I put on 30 pounds,
(IS THAT OK WITH YOU?)
But I digress. ;)
So we stereotype more than we realize. I think the reason people stereotype is because it helps us to understand the world outside us and puts ‘order’ to how we would respond to it.
Or perhaps we are just too lazy to uncover the surface how a person really is or worse maybe we just don’t care or don’t want to…
Engaging someone takes time and energy both of which is found wanting in our present world. Also, the risk of ‘accepting and being accepted’ is always precarious. . so sometimes we rather put them into neat little boxes.
Yeah, and sometimes we tend do the same to our own selves too … but that’s the stuff for another time ….. to box or not to box (smile).
...later yo
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