You...you...Yuon!

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Felgerkarb
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Re: You...you...Yuon!

Post by Felgerkarb »

When I asked two Vietnamese women, who speak Khmer, when they were going back to srok Yuon to visit family they were quite angry with me. It's not a nice word.
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milkncereal
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Re: You...you...Yuon!

Post by milkncereal »

how i understand if you are referring to a Vietnamese person in Khmer it is 3 words which translate to a national of Vietnam and thus yuon is easier and shorter to say.

Also if someone really wanted to use it as a insult wouldn't they put an 'A' in front of it?

Anyhow i think some people use it as an insult, and others its just there slang with no ill intent.
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Re: You...you...Yuon!

Post by LTO »

phuketrichard wrote:CONTEXT
The meaning of all pejorative words (if not all words) is determined in significant part by context, even words like 'nigger.' (Yes, I know 'yuon' is not as pejorative as 'nigger.') So I'm not sure how much slack is bought by noting that context contributes to the meaning of the word. The question isn't whether 'yuon' is pejorative in some absolute sense, but in which contexts is it pejorative (or not pejorative) and how wide a swath of the ordinary uses of the word that covers.
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Re: You...you...Yuon!

Post by vladimir »

LTO, I agree to some extent, but would one of the people who disagree with me be prepared to walk up to a guard at the Vietnamese embassy or a border guard at the border, and say in their most polite tone,

"Hello Mr. Yuon, could you help me, please? I'm looking for the Yuon border post, but I don't speak any Yuon.'?

I doubt it.
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Re: You...you...Yuon!

Post by LTO »

vladimir wrote:LTO, I agree to some extent, but would one of the people who disagree with me be prepared to walk up to a guard at the Vietnamese embassy or a border guard at the border, and say in their most polite tone,

"Hello Mr. Yuon, could you help me, please? I'm looking for the Yuon border post, but I don't speak any Yuon.'?

I doubt it.
That is because 'yuon' is a pejorative word in a fairly wide range of contexts. In fact, in modern Cambodian as spoken in Cambodia, it would probably be easier to list the contexts in which it is not pejorative as that would be a much shorter list.
Last edited by LTO on Wed Jun 04, 2014 6:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: You...you...Yuon!

Post by OrangeDragon »

as well as mixing it with english, and because the vietnamese government has pushed HARD that it not be used... which the people will reflect in their reactions. if instead you made some sort of pejorative about khmer however he'd laugh and clap you on the back. the divide between the two is not at all one sided, so whatever one side does the other will quite often disagree with on principle.
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Re: You...you...Yuon!

Post by LTO »

OrangeDragon wrote:as well as mixing it with english, and because the vietnamese government has pushed HARD that it not be used...
Be interested in reading the source of that assertion. I've heard it before but nobody ever seems to have a reputable source for the claim. Gotta link by chance? Though of course it still wouldn't explain it's clearly stated pejorative use under the KR and Lon Nol governments.
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Re: You...you...Yuon!

Post by OrangeDragon »

LTO wrote:
OrangeDragon wrote:as well as mixing it with english, and because the vietnamese government has pushed HARD that it not be used...
Be interested in reading the source of that assertion. I've heard it before but nobody ever seems to have a reputable source for the claim. Gotta link by chance? Though of course it still wouldn't explain it's clearly stated pejorative use under the KR and Lon Nol governments.
I don't... in the same boat as you sadly.

Though it's clear use as a pejorative under those governments is EASILY explained as ANY word for the Vietnamese would have been considered one and used as one during that time.
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Re: You...you...Yuon!

Post by LTO »

OrangeDragon wrote:I don't... in the same boat as you sadly.
I don't understand. In what way?
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vladimir
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Re: You...you...Yuon!

Post by vladimir »

OrangeDragon wrote:as well as mixing it with english, and because the vietnamese government has pushed HARD that it not be used... which the people will reflect in their reactions. if instead you made some sort of pejorative about khmer however he'd laugh and clap you on the back. the divide between the two is not at all one sided, so whatever one side does the other will quite often disagree with on principle.
Possibly, but two wrongs don't make a right. Anyway, we are discussing whether it's right or wrong, not trying to justify usage.
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