The Filipino

[AirbusA321]

Are both versions OK? I tried to avoid "because" resp. "because of", but I'm not quite sure if the alternatives that I used are correct.

The Filipino feels sceptical about white longnoses pouring into his country, probably due to all the humiliations he had to suffer during the Spanish and American occupation, even if you have nothing to do with Spain or America.
The Filipino is not that amused about white longnoses pouring into his country, since there were so many humiliations he had to suffer during the Spanish and American occupation, even if you have nothing to do with Spain or America.

 

[probus]

I would never dispute the right of post-colonial people to express resentment about their colonization.

That said, the two examples you present are both emotionally-charged, highly political statements. Like you, I prefer yours, the second version. But that is purely because of rhetorical effect. Both versions share similar grammatical and logical errors.

 

[andrewg927]

Who are you writing this to? Don't use "white long noses" unless you are hell bent on offending people like us. In which case that's your prerogative.

 

[Rover_KE]

Sceptical should be skeptical.

'Sceptical' is the BE spelling.

 

[Tdol]

You might want to use white people, or at least use inverted commas around the term. I lived in the Philippines for three years and no one ever called me a white longnose.

 

[andrewg927]

You might want to use white people, or at least use inverted commas around the term. I lived in the Philippines for three years and no one ever called me a white longnose.

Perhaps, they didn't want to offend you? You never know what people say behind your back.;-)

My friend went to China and was called "big nose".

 

[emsr2d2]

I think he may restrict it to 'he' because the title of the article is "The Filipino" (masculine); otherwise it would be "The Filipina".

In BrE, we would refer to both sexes as "a/the Philippino".

 

[Tdol]

You never know what people say behind your back.

In many cases, you do as the terms bandied around are widely known.

 

[Skrej]

I'm not familiar with the pejorative, but are you certain 'longnoses' is one word? I wonder if it isn't some kind of literal translation from Tagalog.

I'll text my Philippine coworker and see what she has to say. She never hesitates to call me all kinds of bad names when I make her mad, but she's never called me that.

Regardless, as far as racial epithets go, it seems like a hard one to get offended by. I don't think my nose is particularly long, but it still doesn't seem like an especially hurtful insult.

Edit: What follows is input from my colleague. I'm certainly not espousing her views as representative of everyone in the Philippines, or that I concur with her comments about inferiority. I'm just sharing what she's told me as she told me, as it relates to the original post.


My coworker texted back, and she said it is indeed a literal translation from Tagalog "matangos na ilong", but that it actually doesn't work well in your context, as it's typically used as a compliment towards British women.

Matangos = tall or white (not sure how it could be both, but I'm just copying what she texted me)
na = conjuction
llong = nose

She said that in general, Filipina women feel inferior about themselves towards white women, and the long slender nose is seen as a beauty standard.

She also said that the sentence written struck her as "other white smart asses wanting to use exaggerations". (Did I stress that these are her words, not mine?:-D)

She's mentioned the inferiority thing before, but reiterated Filipinos in general have a fondness for the US, as they are still grateful towards the US assistance in WWII, so your example isn't an accurate representation of most Filipinos, according to her.

Of course, if you're writing about some kind of anti-social extremist fictional character, then you can give him any feelings you wish.

 

[andrewg927]

Very interesting insight from a Philippine woman. However, I would still consider the term "white long nose" negative with a racial tinge. Offensive? Perhaps or perhaps not, there are worse terms for white people. But I know this I wouldn't consider it a compliment if a Filipino called me a "white long nose" no matter their intention.

 

[Tdol]

They are far more likely to call you sir. ;-)

 

[GoesStation]

The only problem is that it isn't English, it's Spanish. The Spanish and the Italians still consider there to be two genders, or sexes, and only two. Maybe it's best to follow the rules of the language.

The Romance languages that I've studied use the masculine when talking about a group of people of mixed or unknown sex.

 

[emsr2d2]

I know it's Spanish, and I know about masculine/feminine nouns, but in a sentence/piece written in English, we wouldn't use "el Filipino" or "la Filipina". We would use "the Philippino" or "the Philippino man/woman". The first word of the title of article was "The", not "El" or "La" so the next word should also be in English.