Dear Friends,
Why worry too much about the cover of a book than what the book contains? Or why focus and worry about the color of Jean Paul’s string while there are much things more serious and grave in this world? Trade wars, trade crimes, maintain and trade with dictators perpetually carried by certain people and countries , war crimes, genocide, those are some serious things that people need to worry about and try to fight against to enlighten the world from all the bloody crimes committed. Perhaps the individuals of yuon origins feel frustrated, shameful or offense by this word not because of the word or origin of the word itself but to all the horrors or horrific things that this word remind in yuon political history of animosities and hostilities against too much people for over centuries. Inversely, the word yuon can be so sweetie, generous, positive and yuons can be proud of it if yuon individuals act otherwise than those horrific shameful things. Why Khmer feel happy, proud while referring to Indian or Indo-Sythe but fell shameful and hateful while referring to yuons? The real thing is not what people say but to what people contain. Regards Bopha Angkor ----- Original Message ----- From: khmerization junior To: [email protected] ; [email protected] ; [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 12:45 AM Subject: The word "Yuon" is not racist Mr. Seth Meixner Editor in Chief Phnom Penh Post Dear Sir, I am dismayed at Sokchea Meas's ignorance of the meaning of the word "yuon" (“Sam Rainsy declares border victory”). As a Cambodian, Mr. Meas should have known clearly that this word had existed in the Khmer vocabulary since time immemorial, even before the existence of the word "Vietnam" and that the meaning of the word is not "a racist epithet". The word "yuon" we Cambodians used to describe the Vietnamese people is equivalent to the word "mien" the Vietnamese people used to describe the Khmer people. If the Vietnamese are offended by the word "yuon", then should we Khmer be offended by the word "mien" that they used to describe us? The word "yuon" is a neutral vocabulary. It does not carry any racist connotations. If anything at all, it is just a slang word equivalent to the words "Aussie" for the Australians, "Yankee" for the Americans, "Pommie" for the English or "Kiwi" for the New Zealanders etc. Also the word "yuon" is a Khmer word we used to call the Vietnamese, while the word "Vietnam" is a Vietnamese word the Vietnamese people used to describe themselves. If the Vietnamese are offended by the word "yuon", should the French be offended when the English people called them "French" instead of the French word "Francais or Francaise"? Or vice versa, should the English people feel offended when the French people called them "Anglais or Anglaise" instead of the English word "English"? The Thai called Khmer as "kmen", not Khmers and we don't feel offended. But when Khmer people called Thai people "Siem" (derived from the word Siam), the world think that we are racist. The world has always looked at Cambodians as the villains in regards to the Khmer-Vietnamese relations and Khmer-Thai relations. It is not fair. I hope Phnom Penh Post can be clear of the definition of the word "yuon" from now on. For your inforamtion, I'd like to draw your attention to a detailed article by Kenneth T. So regarding the definition of the word "yuon" here:http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2008/01/is-using-word-yuon-justified-and.html Yours Sincerely, Khmerization -- Khmerization is a blog about Khmer news. If you are seeking for any Khmer news or news about Cambodia, Khmerization's got it all. visit http://www.khmerization.blogspot.com. You won't be disappointed. Thanks. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cambodia Discussion (CAMDISC) - www.cambodia.org" group. This is an unmoderated forum. Please refrain from using foul language. Thank you for your understanding. Peace among us and in Cambodia. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/camdisc Learn more - http://www.cambodia.org
