Are Discover Card commercials racsit?

[Alidar Jarok]

Depends on the area where you live.

No, it depends on who the individual is. It's fairly ignorant to assume that you can generalize about any Indian Americans (not only because they might not have learned the language of their parents, but also because it's possible their parents didn't speak Hindi).

 

[Starbreaker]

You can't even generalize Indians. There are 22 official languages.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, I kinda mentioned that the first time I questioned it. It's kind of a dumb sidetrack discussion, though.

Although my friend said that, when he visited India, people understood him a lot better if he spoke as quickly and difficult to understand as he could. Not sure how serious he was, though.

 

[Nick086]

You can't even generalize Indians. There are 22 official languages.

You mean 22 regional languages and Hindi is the offical language

 

[Starbreaker]

Hindi is described as the principal official language. It recognizes English and 22 other dialects as official.

 

[thestrangequark]

^Again, I agree that many Indian Americans do speak Hindi. However, assuming that someone can speak Hindi because he or she is of Indian descent is, well, assuming. There's no other word for it. Like I said, it has been my experience that many don't.

Actually there is another word for it. Assuming anything at all about a person just based on their appearance and ethnic background is racist.

Your calling me a racist?

^Again, I agree that many Indian Americans do speak Hindi. However, assuming that someone can speak Hindi because he or she is of Indian descent is, well, assuming. There's no other word for it. Like I said, it has been my experience that many don't.

So your saying now I'm a racist.

Wow, I most certainly said nothing of the kind. You did notice that you quoted someone else saying that, right? Your posts don't give me the impression of someone who is racist. Unworldly, maybe. Quick to jump to conclusions and hurl accusations, definitely. Not much of a grammarian, certainly. But a racist? I wouldn't conclude that from what I see here, and I would appreciate it if you didn't put words into my mouth.

 

[thestrangequark]

Yeah, I kinda mentioned that the first time I questioned it. It's kind of a dumb sidetrack discussion, though.

Although my friend said that, when he visited India, people understood him a lot better if he spoke as quickly and difficult to understand as he could. Not sure how serious he was, though.

The biggest language barrier I encountered in India was the fact that, like British English is different to American English, so too is Indian English. As I was there to accompany my mother when she had surgery, I spent much of my time in a hospital in Mumbai, and my favorite Indian English term learned there was "motion" referring to a bowel movement, as in a nurse asking a patient, "Did you pass motion?"

I'll never read about the Holy Grail quest to develop a perpetual motion machine again without giggling.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

lol, that does put quite a different spin on things, doesn't it

 

[Capn Flukie]

'Come on baby, do the locomotion' just sounds all kinds of wrong now...

 

[Captain Ice]

^Again, I agree that many Indian Americans do speak Hindi. However, assuming that someone can speak Hindi because he or she is of Indian descent is, well, assuming. There's no other word for it. Like I said, it has been my experience that many don't.

Actually there is another word for it. Assuming anything at all about a person just based on their appearance and ethnic background is racist.

Your calling me a racist?

^Again, I agree that many Indian Americans do speak Hindi. However, assuming that someone can speak Hindi because he or she is of Indian descent is, well, assuming. There's no other word for it. Like I said, it has been my experience that many don't.

So your saying now I'm a racist.

If I was calling you a racist, I would not beat around the bush about it. You'd know it. Don't read something in that isn't even there.

 

[Maestro]

Meh, the commercials are funny, milder than Family Guy, and come with a side of Lou Holtz. I don't really see a problem.

 

[Kestra]

First generation Indian American here. I don't speak Hindi, not even close. Many of us don't. My parents raised us to understand Bengali, not Hindi. There's also no such thing as "a Hindi," just FYI.

 

[Gov Kodos]

There was an episode of Sons of Anarchy where they looked to the Hispanic member to translate someone's Spanish. He said he was from Queens and spoke better Yiddish. Appearances are deceptive buggers.

 

[Warp Core Breach]

Are you drunk?

 

[RJDiogenes]

The commercial is neither racsit nor racist. It's a commentary on customer service being outsourced inappropriately to people who are not properly trained and not really invested in the company because they are not part of it and are not being paid well enough to care (thus the low bid).

 

[iguana_tonante]

Your posts don't give me the impression of someone who is racist. Unworldly, maybe. Quick to jump to conclusions and hurl accusations, definitely. Not much of a grammarian, certainly.

Win.

 

[Count Zero]

Don't worry. Even if the call center guys do have the same native language as you, you're likely to have a hard time understanding them and even likelier to still get crappy service. I speak from experience.

 

[scotpens]

. . . Not all Indian Americans are first generation. My best friend's parents are from Delhi, and she speaks no Hindi at all (nor any other Indian language). Neither do 4 of her cousins. They grew up speaking English, like most Americans.

I have another close friend who is of Korean descent, but speaks no Korean. One can't just assume that someone speaks the language of their ancestors.

It's like assuming that an American Jew can speak Yiddish. Most of us only know the funny Yiddish words.

The biggest language barrier I encountered in India was the fact that, like British English is different to American English, so too is Indian English.

Different from American English, you mean.

First generation Indian American here. I don't speak Hindi, not even close. Many of us don't. My parents raised us to understand Bengali, not Hindi. There's also no such thing as "a Hindi," just FYI.

Right, Hindi is a language. It used to be called Hindustani, back when Muslims were called Mohammedans.

As for the advertisement in question, I haven't seen it. But from the OP's description, it sounds no more racist (or xenophobic) than the hilarious Wendy's "Russian Fashion Show" commercial from the 1980s. Some folks need to grow a sense of humor.

 

[thestrangequark]

^"Different to" is correct, if informal, and more common in British English than in American English. So there!