Brickbat: What's in a Name?

Laney College, a public community college in California, has placed mathematics professor Matthew Hubbard on leave and is investigating him for sending racist messages to a student of Vietnamese descent, Phuc Bui Diem Nguyen, suggesting she change her name. "Your name in English sounds like F—k Boy," Hubbard wrote. "If I lived in Vietnam and my name in your language sounded like Eat a D—k, 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're offended, but you need to understand your name is an offensive sound in my language. I repeat my request"

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

“I am shocked and appalled by the racist comments we are seeing online from a Laney faculty member to a student,” Jennifer Shanoski, the union’s president, said in a statement. “In no way are these comments or assertions acceptable in our diverse, welcoming, educational environment.”

When your union representation goes hyperwoke...

[Fist of Etiquette]

Some Grindr users are probably in for a disappointment when they meet up with Phuc Bui.

[Adans smith]

Luv you long time?

[SQRLSY One]

There's a Vietnamese Pho joint named Pho Q Long... Would it be racist if I asked Phuc Bui Diem Nguyen to enjoy my company at Pho Q Long, for a long, long time? A GOOD time can be had, at Pho Q Long, LONG time! I long for Phuc Bui long time, at Pho Q Long!

[Jerry B.]

And the line out the door is the Pho Queue.

[Kevin Smith]

But is the Pho Queue long?

[cnadal]

I quit working at shoprite and now I make $65-85 per/h. How? I'm working online! My work didn't exactly make me happy so I decided to take a chance on something new…QAs after 4 years it was so hard to quit my day job but now I couldn't be happier.

Here’s what I do….............new Income Opportunities

[Formerly Cynical Asshole]

There’s a Vietnamese Pho joint named Pho Q Long

When I lived in Houston there was a Vietnamese restaurant called Pho King.

[SQRLSY One]

Pho King Aye!!!

[Rat on a train]

So you say you are the sixth child of Swedish parents? Why did they translate your last name when they immigrated but not your first?

[markm23]

Is it common for Swedes to name their kids with numbers? And if so, would a boy prefer to be #6 (sex) than #5 (fem)?

[Jerryskids]

Racist, sexist, and white supremacist. A literal Hitler.

[Rat on a train]

Beyond Hitler!

[Ragnarredbeard]

Dude doesn't need to be fired but geez he is stupid.

[Fist of Etiquette]

How would you like to be forced to say "fuck boy" at your place of work? If I heard him say it around me I would be in HR and then my attorney's office so fast his head would swim.

[Ragnarredbeard]

If that was really how the ladies name is pronounced, I'm not seeing HR being sympathetic.

[Rat on a train]

Mike Myers already did that name joke. Get your own material.

[Rockstevo]

Is this guy angling for an early retirement or just plain crazy? My 80-year-old father would know better than to write an email like this much less a college professor. The school does not need to make it clear that this is inappropriate, everyone with half a brain know this.
“Asians who immigrated to the United States felt the need to Anglicize their names or adopt an American name to fit into society” so did a lot of children of immigrants, my great grandfather did, as did my grandfather, my father did and then they did it to me to. The number of relatives in my family who go by “Sam” even though they are Salvatore or Santos etc. makes it really easy to call in the family at supper time (or did when they were all alive). Polish did it with their last names, as did other eastern Europeans. My wife did it with her Tatar name.
And how hard was it to find an Asian professor to go on the record for this article, had to go all the way to Indiana (also noticed she has an “Anglicized” name too).

[Rat on a train]

My Irish relatives Anglicized their names for the better. It dropped the letter count of their last name from 11 to 5.

[Ragnarredbeard]

I didn't know my great-uncle Sam's real name was Salvatore until he died. I knew he was Italian but not his birth name. Kinda sad, really. He was a great dude.

[Brandybuck]

My grandpa changed his name so he wouldn't be called "Joe". The name started with "Jo".

[Ben of Houston]

The initial news stories on this sound fishy. Tim Pool's news commentary actually concluded that this is most likely fake, a social experiment that the guy is conducting with his class. He's exceedingly woke on social media, and the e-mail doesn't sound like something someone would actually write, but something that would come from a rude-teacher villain in high school fiction.

And I did go to school with a girl named Phuc. Said like the swear. She went by a nickname to avoid the discussion and "what? I must have misheard". every time she introduced herself.

[Formerly Cynical Asshole]

He’s exceedingly woke on social media, and the e-mail doesn’t sound like something someone would actually write, but something that would come from a rude-teacher villain in high school fiction.

Yeah, I can't imagine a super woke leftist actually being a closet racist, especially towards Asians. /sarc

Then again, it does sound like something a woke-tard would think one of those conservative strawmen that live in their heads would write, so who knows. Probably fake but stranger shit than this has happened lately.

[Brandybuck]

Yeah, projection gone wrong, because wrong asshole fired.

[Juice]

This guy is dumb, but this case illustrates another double standard in our current society. White people cannot be offended unless it's on behalf of another person of a different color.

If a white person had the name from a certain Chapelle Show sketch, they would not be requested to change it, but would be required to change it.

[Brandybuck]

When I lived in Germany very briefly, the maid was Mrs. Hitler. That was her name. It's a perfectly legit name, where do you think Adolf came by it? He was born with it! Well I'm certain a lot of family changed their names to Schmidt, but clearly not all of them did. She was old enough that she was definitely around with the name during WWII.

[Rat on a train]

He was born with it!
But his father wasn't. His father Alois was born with the last name Schicklgruber. Alois took his stepfather's last name. Alois's paternity also wasn't established so Adolf couldn't meet the requirements for proving Aryan ancestry.

I’m certain a lot of family changed their names to Schmidt, but clearly not all of them did.
You can also search William Patrick Hitler. He was Adolf's nephew. He served in the United States Navy during World War 2. He didn't change his name until after the war.

[Finrod]

I'm told that after World War II there was a Hitler family that decided they should change their last name, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately for them, they chose a name that is even worse:

Shitler.

[markm23]

I suspect many Germans decided their last name should be spelled something like Heidler after May, 1945. (IIRC, Adolf's adoptive grandfather seems to have been uncertain of the proper spelling.)

[Smithsonian SWAT $park¥]

Eh, Phuket.

[cgr2727]

Would've been better if the professor were named Mike Hunt.

[Brandybuck]

Has anyone seen Mike Hunt?

[cgr2727]

He's usually near Hugh Jass.

[Agammamon]

Old Father Hubbard needs to understand that old white males don't get handicaps when it comes to the Oppression Golf Tournament.

Plus, asshole that I am, I can not possibly see why he thought that comment was appropriate nor why in the hell he'd send it in an email instead of face-to-face (where it could at least be denied).

Of course, its called 'racist' (its not) because these people can't accept that he's just an asshole with no social skills - dude's name really is Phuc Bui, after all - but 'dude, stop being an asshole' doesn't get you the righteous feelings that 'taking down' a racist does.

[Kimberly23]

I understand you're offended, but you need to understand your name is an offensive sound in my language electrician grand rapids mi