another side of vietnam about joey arnold: Joey Arnold in the Crazy Hospital with His Vietnamese Wife & the Dark Side of Grammar

Hayden Lowry

March 20, 2014 · Edited

Ok, I'll admit, this isn't intrinsically funny but it IS brilliant (in my humble opinion). A Vietnamese son, linguist and tattoo artist, Phuc Tran shines a light on a little known/oft ignored aspect of the Vietnamese language that potentially explains a major source of frustration for many of us expats. Cogent, clear eyed and refreshingly honest, I look forward to reading everyone's thoughts...

Phuc Tran: Does The Subjunctive Have A Dark Side?

Classicist and tattooer Phuc Tran grew up caught between two languages with opposing cultural perspectives: the indicative reality of Vietnamese and the power to image endless possibilities with English. In this personal talk, Tran...

NPR.ORG|BY TED RADIO HOUR

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Kris Wilkins I see what you mean Tim S Koepp, but I wouldn't want to block him as he makes me laugh too much.

It's not like oatmeal, where you feel uncomfortable laughing. It's a guilt free chortle

March 20, 2014 at 8:01pm · Like · 2
Raus Lee Meanwhile, actual linguists have been thinking about this for about a hundred years and have come to the conclusion that it is horseshit. Language informs your worldview but it doesn't hinder your higher thought processes.
...See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:03pm · Like · 4
Stephanie Vogel Linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity are not the same thing.

March 20, 2014 at 8:05pm · Like · 3
Raus Lee You're absolutely right, they're not the same thing. But this is promoting linguistic determinism by labeling it as linguistic relativity and everybody is eating it up because it confirms all the bad things they already thought about Vietnamese people.

March 20, 2014 at 8:07pm · Like · 3
Stephanie Vogel The speaker's thesis is decidedly pro-indicative, so are you defending the speakers of languages with embedded subjunctive moods?

March 20, 2014 at 8:09pm · Like · 3
Tim S Koepp It's doing no such thing Ross Lee Tabak , you going off the deep end on your racist remarks, no one, not even Mr Phuc tran said anything about anyone speaking a different language was better then anyone else.

March 20, 2014 at 8:09pm · Like · 1
Adam Huynh Again Kris Wilkins let me remind you of the time line, the person you are accusing me of being was jailed in queensland in 2008 for 6mths with a 3yr probation which means he cannot leave the country in that 3 yrs, this meaning if he was to come to vn i...See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:09pm · Like
Kris Wilkins Adam "to say that was infact (sic) me, same name (sic) doesnt (sic) mean same person (sic), given the temporal differences, but yet you still.."

Sorry, Adam, you are of course right. It could well be a case of mistaken identity. The fact that that man...See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:10pm · Like · 2
Ngoc Bui Hayden Lowry which question you expect me to answer?

Same same, you choose to believe him because he seem to have experience despite the fact that many people tell you he's wrong....See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:13pm · Like
Hayden Lowry Ross Lee Tabak Thanks for you link bro. Did you miss the part where is said that the Vietnamese are NOT stupid? i never called for any action other than discussion of Mr. Tran's speech. I am not foolish to think that we expats exert any influence in re...See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:14pm · Like · 2
Adam Huynh Kris Wilkins wow man can i say WOW, those last 2 points of deduction really nailed it man, now i CONCEDE, you are indeed a genius, all that from such little real evidence see? Revo Qmars thats real investigative powers!! I suppose when you took a pictu...See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:21pm · Like
Hayden Lowry @Ngoc Bui: I expect an answer to all the questions that you conveniently ignored. I conceded happily that you made some salient points, but I suspect that you are running from my questions as honestly answering them would cause you to question your own...See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:46pm · Edited · Like
Kris Wilkins Adam- Well think of it like this- you are clearly a man who values money highly, as you made repeated derogatory comments a out how little money English teachers make, and then with inelegant crassness posted photos of your million dollar portfolio

An...See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:31pm · Like · 1
Kris Wilkins I said the Buddha was a parasite on the working class

March 20, 2014 at 8:31pm · Like
Kris Wilkins Their not there xin loi

March 20, 2014 at 8:32pm · Like
Hayden Lowry In an effort to better allow everyone to accurately quote Phuc Tran, here is the transcript of his entire TEDx talk:

http://www.racialicious.com/.../grammar-identity-and-the.../

Grammar, Identity, And The Dark Side Of The Subjunctive: Phuc Tran At...

RACIALICIOUS.COM

March 20, 2014 at 8:36pm · Like
Adam Huynh OK Kris Wilkins please look at the dates of my graduation degrees 95 for pharmacy and 2002, these dates are BEFORE the dates of 2008, so if you are implying that i had to change careers due to the legal matter you are accusing me of, then you are way o...See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:41pm · Like
Adam Huynh If you want to "riddle me this" why would a self proclaimed highly educated highly intelligent man voluntarily decide to study history and a teaching high school credential and then come back here in Vn to teach english, get no respect from the broad c...See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:48pm · Edited · Like
Kris Wilkins Adam you used many more terms & metaphors than just simply sodomize

And I allowed that it may not be you, but rather that you just seemed like the kind if guy who would sell drugs to children, it's the kind of vibe you give off I guess

March 20, 2014 at 8:47pm · Like · 3
Hayden Lowry Adam Huynh none of your myriad personal attacks have ANY bearing whatsoever on the discussion. you have demonstrated that you have the capacity to make valuable points, do you have it within you to stick to debating IDEAS rather than resorting to empty strawman and no-true-scotsman attacks? disparaging people off topic has never won anyone a debate anywhere.

March 20, 2014 at 8:53pm · Like · 4
Adam Huynh wow gone from espousing logical reasoning to "my gut feeling" and a ample gut yours is as well. I have adequatle answered all your accusations it would seem to appear, so why dont you address what i asked of you, you claimed to have completed Universit...See More

March 20, 2014 at 8:53pm · Like
Adam Huynh Hayden Lowry sorry mate, but this little off topic debate between myself and Kris is a result of his accussations leveled at me, its western best practice to allow a person the right of reply i believe

March 20, 2014 at 8:55pm · Like · 1
Hayden Lowry sigh... its a free world.

March 20, 2014 at 8:55pm · Edited · Like · 1
Christopher Garfield James haha now i've heard everything Hayden Lowry, he says you wanna be a white guy!

March 20, 2014 at 8:55pm · Like
Adam Huynh Christopher Garfield James sorry man..those comments not directed at hayden but at Kiris, didnt mean to hijack the post but its a continuation of a flame war between the two of us, and arose when he brought it up here..hey dont point the finger at me!!

March 20, 2014 at 8:58pm · Like
Christopher Garfield James oh, maybe he's not talking to you... but its funny, I was just thinking the other day, I wonder whats happened toHayden Lowry, i havent seen him in any massive facebook arguments recently... and there he is!

March 20, 2014 at 8:58pm · Like
Adam Huynh Well it wasnt directed at him but if he did take offense well u gotta think... what hits true might sting abit..

March 20, 2014 at 9:00pm · Like
Kris Wilkins Adam, I said you came across as the kind of guy who would knowingly sell methamphetamine to children, the evidence I present for that is merely the comments you already posted

Hayden, sorry for hijacking your discussion...See More

March 20, 2014 at 9:01pm · Like · 1
Hayden Lowry Christopher Garfield James so NOT going there. my making that observation wouldn't end well nor would it advance the conversation. tho i suspect that we have all diverged enough to have ground things to a standstill...

March 20, 2014 at 9:01pm · Like
Christopher Garfield James Hayden Lowry good to see you around again, fighting the good fight... I'm out of this convo mate. peace.

March 20, 2014 at 9:02pm · Like · 1
Adam Huynh Kris with good sportsmanship i have adressed all your accusations, why cant you be a man let alone be a gentleman and adress my points.

March 20, 2014 at 9:03pm · Like
Christopher Garfield James Adam Huynh why don't you bloody well inbox him???

March 20, 2014 at 9:05pm · Like · 2
Adam Huynh I have but Kris is like a two dollar trollop who likes the public attention, he doesnt respond to my private responses to his public accustions. He hides then makes sniper type attacks then runs away hoping to catch me unaware.

March 20, 2014 at 9:10pm · Like
Christopher Garfield James wow.

March 20, 2014 at 9:14pm · Like
Hale Song Nomination for ASOV Best Love Story 2014: Adam Huynh & Kris Wilkins. The term 'landslide' comes to mind.

March 20, 2014 at 9:16pm · Like · 2
Adam Huynh Hale Song I better get something useful if i win, better not be something as useful as a liberal arts degree wink emoticon

March 20, 2014 at 9:19pm · Like
Hale Song Winners in 2013 didn't really get along either. They won a bottle of local vodka each and a hotel voucher good for one night to 'smooth' things over. It wasn't received well squint emoticon

March 20, 2014 at 9:20pm · Like · 1
Kris Wilkins Adam, we're not in a flame war or a discussion or anything like that, I was in a discussion the other day in here but you weren't able engage with that

Rather I am just toying with you for my own shallow amusement. It amuses me is all. The pleasure on...See More

March 20, 2014 at 9:37pm · Like · 5
Philip Scott Is there a moderator?

March 20, 2014 at 9:50pm · Like · 3
Ngoc Bui @Hayden Lowry: I am not type of person avoiding answer question. But in this mess of facebook, it's easy to lost trace. Feel free to send me question left unanswered.

March 20, 2014 at 9:54pm · Like
Tim S Koepp Hayden Lowry it would be a waste ot time to try to get a straight answer from Ngoc, I tried offline and she just kept avoiding my questions. I finally had to politely ask her to please stop talking.

March 20, 2014 at 9:56pm · Like
Tim S Koepp Guys Adam is a troll and just tries to start fights, now do you see why I blocked him?

March 20, 2014 at 9:59pm · Like · 2
Ngoc Bui Tim S Koepp you're such a petty man. FYI, Tim asked me how many time does I have "subjuctive thought per day". My answer is who the hell counting his thought? And then he ask me what job do I do. I did not answer because why on earth asking me about personal information.

March 20, 2014 at 10:00pm · Like
Hale Song Actually i wanted to post something after the last 'pissing competition' we had to endure before. But when it really comes down to it, it's Adam Edermo's call, and in a conversation I had with him he asked me not to post what i was going to. His approa...See More

March 20, 2014 at 10:03pm · Like · 4
Kris Wilkins From Adam just now-
You really are a pathetic man, even after all this you still persist with your own form of libel, disregarding every thing that i have said to debunk you accusations, you might think you are very intelligent, but rest assured no one else does, and whilst i swim in my million dollars, all u can do is swim in your own shit. Have fun you fucken fat ugly STUPID wanker.

March 20, 2014 at 10:10pm · Like
Hayden Lowry @Ngoc Bui: Your conversation with Tim is none of my business. I took the time to read your comments and respectfully address your posits. The least you can do is give my questions the same attention. Everything I asked you - and it wasn't much - is rig...See More

March 20, 2014 at 10:15pm · Edited · Like · 1
Kris Wilkins Yet Adam you persist in insulting English teachers

March 20, 2014 at 10:10pm · Like
Kris Wilkins Didn't see that Hale you just wrote when I posted that, ok, fair enough, I'll post on it no more

March 20, 2014 at 10:11pm · Like · 4
Ngoc Bui Hayden Lowry I do remember answer all questions you ask me. Actually there is one left unaswer as I remember. You ask me if I am an expert in language. The anwers is (sadly) yes, somehow. My work involve dealing with the Vietnamese language and I am pr...See More

March 20, 2014 at 10:15pm · Like
Hayden Lowry @Ngoc Bui: I count 5 questions asked and avoided.

If working in Vietnamese makes you an "expert" then, by that logic, so am I as all of the TV shows I've worked on here are in Vietnamese. Clearly, I'm not. Being highly articulate in your native tongue...See More

March 20, 2014 at 11:06pm · Edited · Like · 2
Kris Wilkins Oh yeah Hayden but if she speaks Vietnamese and we don't come on now she must have a more valid opinion than we do, she knows what she is capable of thinking

March 20, 2014 at 11:09pm · Like · 1
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Chris Circelli

March 18, 2014

At the Crazy Hospital in D5 to find out if me and my fiance are crazy.... I wasn't before I came here but this place definitely makes you khung khung dien dien !!!

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Hannah Ngan Ho I wonder what will be the results for Giao Vien Oatmealwhen marrying a Vnmese girl smile emoticon

March 18, 2014 at 12:23pm · Edited · Like · 3
Wayne Hammond Been there done that can sympathize with you

March 18, 2014 at 12:53pm · Like
Chris Circelli Lol only cost be 5 Ed

March 18, 2014 at 1:38pm · Like
Chris Circelli And now you are insane! Lol

March 18, 2014 at 1:40pm · Like
Rohan Barks yeah i can relate too.....years ago in SGN i had a question about how many brothers i have and which football team i support then it was done! but then upon submitting it (with the other stuff) in Kien Giang found out that the one i got in SGN was invalid, gotta get a local one! smile emoticon

March 18, 2014 at 1:41pm · Like
Wayne Hammond Yes mine was $5

March 18, 2014 at 1:43pm · Like
Michael Sakkers I got asked if I have ever done heroin. When I said "no of course not" the doc stared me down and asked the same question. I said "are you fucking kidding me? I am american not a viet!"
Lucky I passed.

March 18, 2014 at 1:45pm · Like · 2
Hannah Ngan Ho I was helping our client to get the marriage paper and at the interview they asked the couple: "How do you have sex when the husband is 65 and the wife 32?" pacman emoticon

March 18, 2014 at 1:58pm · Like · 1
John Braun hannah i am 72 and single if you find out please let me know.

March 18, 2014 at 2:39pm · Like
Jeff Wigmore I was misdiagnosed. They said I was sane... I was when I went in- about a year later the damage was done.

March 18, 2014 at 3:25pm · Like · 1
Robin Collman We where hear about 30 min. Long enough for some shark to sit down and offer me a deal on getting things done the easy way for a mear $ 600.00 ha ha
Didn't go for it.

March 18, 2014 at 3:28pm · Like
Dan Kings $20 for the normal 3 day processing, $30 for express same day service.

March 18, 2014 at 4:54pm · Like · 1
Tý Vân Congratulations on getting married. We all went down that road. My husband said they have to check because how on earth a sane vietnamese woman would want to marry a foreigner (or the other way around ;-)) Now you have to queue up again at the justice department blah blah whatever it called. Good lucks with the paperworks and again, congratulations!

March 18, 2014 at 7:32pm · Like · 5
Kristian Svk Somogyi "sane Vietnamese woman"
Good one pacman emoticon

March 18, 2014 at 7:39pm · Like · 1
Hai Bui i have no idea with u when u posted this for fun.are u insane?noone wants to be crazy or depressed.they made a fence to protect hallucinated patients from fallin.i hope u will delete ur post.its not funny at all when u took photos of hospital where sick- minded pp re bein cared and u said u will be sick.i think u re really sick when u posted the picture.

March 18, 2014 at 8:17pm · Edited · Like · 2
Chris Circelli San si have a chill because obviously you have no idea what you are talking about. What room are you staying in so we can send flowers?

March 18, 2014 at 8:27pm · Like · 4
Chris Circelli And no I am not insane. The doctor said so hahahaha

March 18, 2014 at 8:28pm · Like · 1
Scotty Dinh Getting married?

March 18, 2014 at 8:35pm · Like · 1
Chris Circelli Haha yeah so I may be slightly insane

March 18, 2014 at 8:41pm · Like
Kristian Svk Somogyi of course you are slightly insane, what the fuck would you move to Vn for otherwise?

March 18, 2014 at 8:42pm · Like · 5
Scotty Dinh Nothing wrong with love and getting married. Its a great feeling to be in really. Extreme high and lows. I just know in Vietnam before you do get married both side need to get a physiatric test. "To be sound body and mind" if you want to get married. Vietnam take that literally and so you need to not only get a physical but you need to get your head examine.

March 18, 2014 at 8:46pm · Edited · Like
Michael Sakkers Better get my wife's help for the next step. If not you will go through the same hell dave went through.

March 18, 2014 at 9:20pm · Like · 1
Rémi Nguyen Same here, i came, they talk and at the end: Happy weeding lol

March 19, 2014 at 2:36pm · Like · 4
Baz Hurst a process Vietnam has right....a mental check before marriage

March 19, 2014 at 9:07pm · Edited · Like · 2
Scotty Dinh Maybe the good ole US of A should do that God know how many marriage end in a divorce.

March 19, 2014 at 9:09pm · Like
Thanh Huy Ha ha, i know when you come here, you have to hug your fiance to breathing, breathless!!!

March 19, 2014 at 10:47pm · Like