This has gone from "Hot Take" to "Full Blown Discussion". New thread, please.
-BEP
Then my hot take is the discussion didn't even run a full whole page and there have been other takes that spanned multiple pages of discussion, so in the spirit of that context... 
Spacepprotean, I'm sorry that happened to you. Its scary to realize someone else's lack of emotional maturity can threaten your livelihood 
Hot Take: Deleting a commiserating rant and instead posting a message of support is more important right now.
Thank you for sharing, SpacePProtean!
The new Saints Row isn't terrible. In fact its a lot of fun to play.
Painfully honest hot take: my favorite thing about the GWJ community is how committed everyone is to inclusivity, but my least favorite thing is how frequently people assume the opposite. Unless I've missed something literally everyone I've encountered here 100% supports trans folks, so it kind of breaks my heart a little how every time there's a disagreement over some tertiary or quaternary issue, people tend to start parsing each other's comments for possible evidence of lurking problematic views. We're in a nice inclusive bubble here, not youtube comments, so why not assume the best about each other?
This place kinda ran on outrage for awhile back when it transitioned from a politically heterogeneous community to something more like-minded. Now that the incorrect opinion-havers have been shown the door, it’s natural for that judgement to be refocused on ideological purity. I’m not sure that’s the most effective way to treat fellow white-hats, but old habits die hard. Thank you for reading my hot take.
This place kinda ran on outrage for awhile back when it transitioned from a politically heterogeneous community to something more like-minded. Now that the incorrect opinion-havers have been shown the door, it’s natural for that judgement to be refocused on ideological purity. I’m not sure that’s the most effective way to treat fellow white-hats, but old habits die hard. Thank you for reading my hot take.
I think I tend to agree with Broken Clock here.
Hot take - Most of those incorrect opinions were *factually* incorrect, not simple disagreements of opinion, so...
Proof point? Many of those who held them have modified their views to accept reality where appropriate, are still conservatives, but are happily co-existing here without violating the CoC or losing friends.
Nobody got chased off this site for preferring a low tax/low service model of government over a high tax/high service model.
Nobody found GWJ too hostile a place for their views because they prioritize free trade or market-based solutions.
When claiming people left because of "conservative views", let's maybe be specific about what those views were.
EDIT: Stengah-hausered!
Took a few days off the internet. I am glad that HL isn't a good enough video game to garner more attention than the weekend of initial handwringing about how terrible the IP creator is and how there is imbedded anti-semitism in the game. I am looking forward to forgetting that the IP exists...again.
May I recommend DuckFeed's podcast Days of Futurecast for all things 90s marvel X-Men cartoon. A great & funny podcast to enjoy while walking along with the show episode by episode.
I'm about three episodes in, rewatching the show along with it, and having a good time.
Question, though: do they ever stop using that godawful looped audio drop from the Pryde of the X-Men theme song that's mixed way too loud and goes on way too long?
Hot taking this in a different direction...
Back when I went back to college to get my music education degree, there were several international students in the school of music. Their names were not difficult to remember. Nor difficult to pronounce.
And yet.
Seems like any student from China got called by their chosen English name by everyone except the singers. How f*cking difficult is it to say Yang with an "ah" vowel in the middle? Did she really need to be called "Vicky"?
I have more sympathy for my Greek student, Argyris, whose name is actually difficult to pronounce well. He told them to call him "R.G." which...close enough.
But my student named Sotiris getting called "Doritos" half the time he was at a summer music program?
Hot Take...Americans should be willing to pronounce stuff that takes a tiny bit of practice.
Took me three weeks of practice to say my student Efthimis' name correctly...but that's not the point.
Hot Take...Americans should be willing to pronounce stuff that takes a tiny bit of practice.
Hot take - if you're living somewhere with a different accent to your native one, you should expect people to pronounce your name wrong.
Example - I go by Jon. Pretty much everyone here in the US pronounces it wrong. My name's not Jaaaahn, it's Jon, rhymes with con, not with barn. Say it like you're spitting it out, not rolling it around in your mouth like it's a fancy chocolate.
Turnabout is fair play tho - I'm mispronouncing most of their names with my mangled English-with-the-corners-filed-off accent.
Example - I go by Jon. Pretty much everyone here in the US pronounces it wrong. My name's not Jaaaahn, it's Jon, rhymes with con, not with barn. Say it like you're spitting it out, not rolling it around in your mouth like it's a fancy chocolate
Is that a mispronunciation, or just a quirk of accents? Like how Americans can't say "bollocks", no matter how much you try to coach them?
Hot taking this in a different direction...
Back when I went back to college to get my music education degree, there were several international students in the school of music. Their names were not difficult to remember. Nor difficult to pronounce.
And yet.
Seems like any student from China got called by their chosen English name by everyone except the singers. How f*cking difficult is it to say Yang with an "ah" vowel in the middle? Did she really need to be called "Vicky"?
I have more sympathy for my Greek student, Argyris, whose name is actually difficult to pronounce well. He told them to call him "R.G." which...close enough.
But my student named Sotiris getting called "Doritos" half the time he was at a summer music program?
Hot Take...Americans should be willing to pronounce stuff that takes a tiny bit of practice.
Took me three weeks of practice to say my student Efthimis' name correctly...but that's not the point.
Hot Take: If someone asks me to use a name that is difficult for me to pronounce, I will give it my best good-faith effort and be grateful if they're patient with me.
But if someone gives me a choice between a name that is difficult for me to pronounce and one that's easy, I'm going with the easy one, and if they don't like that, that's on them for giving me the choice. And if some random third party doesn't like it, I don't see that it's any of their business.
Hot taking this in a different direction...
Back when I went back to college to get my music education degree, there were several international students in the school of music. Their names were not difficult to remember. Nor difficult to pronounce.
And yet.
Seems like any student from China got called by their chosen English name by everyone except the singers. How f*cking difficult is it to say Yang with an "ah" vowel in the middle? Did she really need to be called "Vicky"?
I have more sympathy for my Greek student, Argyris, whose name is actually difficult to pronounce well. He told them to call him "R.G." which...close enough.
But my student named Sotiris getting called "Doritos" half the time he was at a summer music program?
Hot Take...Americans should be willing to pronounce stuff that takes a tiny bit of practice.
Took me three weeks of practice to say my student Efthimis' name correctly...but that's not the point.
I work extensively with people in China at my company and many of them either add a western name to their email signature, or have it formerly added to their account info in parentheses.
I felt gross about it at first, but over time I've come to realize that it is their choice to be called however they wish - even though I may disagree with the original reason why. (I feel the same way about women wearing burkahs as well.)
They shouldn't need to use a western name, and we should learn how to pronounce their names properly. For those colleagues that I work with all the time, I'll ask them how to pronounce their name (or look it up) but I also ask them how they prefer to be called.
Is that a mispronunciation, or just a quirk of accents?
At what point does one become the other?
I was really good friends with two pianists who were from China, whose eyes lit up whenever I said their actual names, who during the first semester tried to introduce themselves by their really not difficult to pronounce names, but gave up after a while. That's the beginning, middle, and end of my experience there.
Course, I'm also the one who cringed when learning German, and the TA would say "eeech, beeeen, muueeedeh" and the whole class apart from me would reply with, "ick bin mooduh".
Luckily, as this is the Hot Takes thread, they all sucked and I was cool. Damn it.
And yeah, in the school of music, the international music students in general loved the singers, cause we were not afraid to practice and learn their names. Hot Take: Also because we were not one of the 12 trumpet players who could only play forte and fortissimo. (loud and way too loud). There was like *one* who could play mezzo piano. One.
Tasty Pudding wrote:Is that a mispronunciation, or just a quirk of accents?
At what point does one become the other?
In the context of this conversation, I'd say that a mispronunciation comes from not knowing how to pronounce something. Accents come in when you do know how to pronounce something but literally cannot, physically, say it "properly".
Seems like any student from China got called by their chosen English name by everyone except the singers. How f*cking difficult is it to say Yang with an "ah" vowel in the middle? Did she really need to be called "Vicky"?
Wait, is this a bad thing? I'm no expert but I thought a lot of Chinese speakers mainly use their English name among friends, even when speaking Chinese?
Course, I'm also the one who cringed when learning German, and the TA would say "eeech, beeeen, muueeedeh" and the whole class apart from me would reply with, "ick bin mooduh".
Your teacher didn't know the smile trick. 
Roo wrote:Seems like any student from China got called by their chosen English name by everyone except the singers. How f*cking difficult is it to say Yang with an "ah" vowel in the middle? Did she really need to be called "Vicky"?
Wait, is this a bad thing? I'm no expert but I thought a lot of Chinese speakers mainly use their English name among friends, even when speaking Chinese?
See above. Most of the international students (this is fall of 2001, btw...) arrived hopeful that we'd all use their given names. The Chinese students were the first to give up, after one semester. They definitely didn't arrive giving English names...it is more than possible this has changed in practice in 22 years...
Chinese people can't even pronounce each others names correctly in some cases.
I mostly use my wife's English name. There are at least two ways her Chinese name is pronounced depending who is taking to her, one which feels too formal to me and the other which feels too tied to her ancestry for me to use.
Did some reading about this, it's an interesting topic.
By using Western names, Chinese speakers are actually borrowing the Western interpersonal communication system, which is different from the Chinese ones governed by Confucian paradigm, says Professor Li."The traditional Chinese rituals and rules of social interaction do not favor the use of our given names with non-acquaintances. Our Chinese given names tend to be used only with 'intimate others,'" the professor said.
In a research paper published back in 1997, Li also explained that addressing a person with his/her Chinese given name, apart from showing intimate relations, also often signifies a downward communication - an address used by teachers to students, parents to children, senior colleagues to junior colleagues.
The use of Western names thus serves as a buffer, to avoid being too formal and too intimate, and to avoid the embarrassing situation of addressing someone mistakenly as in downward communication.
link. Given the 1997 paper quote it's not a new phenomenon.
Hobear wrote:May I recommend DuckFeed's podcast Days of Futurecast for all things 90s marvel X-Men cartoon. A great & funny podcast to enjoy while walking along with the show episode by episode.
I'm about three episodes in, rewatching the show along with it, and having a good time.
Question, though: do they ever stop using that godawful looped audio drop from the Pryde of the X-Men theme song that's mixed way too loud and goes on way too long?
Glad you're enjoying it. Uh yeah the repetitive audio kick, I don't know what they were thinking. Usually their audio bits are good but I took issue with that as well. That said I laughed harder listening to the podcast than I ever expected.
As relating to a few hot takes above, if anyone has the chance, check out Duckfeed.tv content. The hosts Gary & Kole run a very inclusive community, have had a few GWJs on as guests, & really have stellar content. If you enjoy it here you'd probably enjoy it there as well.
People seem to rave about the comedic genius of Andrew Kaufman but the guy was mostly annoying. Christopher Lloyd was far more entertaining to watch in Taxi.
I thought I was the only one, strangederby...
Kate Bush has a phenomenal voice and has done lots of wonderful music, but that "WANK-WONK" sound in "Running Up That Hill" is the utter epitome of awful 80s synths, and the song is terrible because of it.
I thought I was the only one, strangederby...
You are NOT. So glad someone else said this.
An insurance agency making me sign up for a cash app that only works on a cellphone so I can receive a digital transfer of my claim instead of a check feels gross.
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