Why the :smack:? Obviously, if you’re mockingly referring to a Japanese co-worker by the name of a Japanese food, that is harassment. Same thing if you tease a Mexican co-worker by calling him “Fajitas” or a German co-worker “Sauerkraut”, etc.
Now, if you and your Japanese co-worker both happen to like your calling him “egg custard” as a pun on his Japanese name in private conversation, fine, that’s nobody’s business but your own. But you shouldn’t do it in the presence of other people, because it absolutely does carry unsavory connotations of mocking people of different ethnicity for their “funny” names, and that can land you in “creating hostile work environment” territory.
Again, if this is a private social situation and everybody involved is fine with it, there’s nothing at all wrong with using racial designations as nicknames. But it’s not advisable to try it in other circumstances, because it seems to place such a gratuitous emphasis on racial categories.
I mean, are people in this group so fixated on race that they haven’t noticed that the two Elmos have different surnames, for example? Surnames are a pretty tried and tested tool for distinguishing between two individuals with identical given names. Hell, that’s what surnames were invented for in the first place.
This reminds me of a friend’s uncles - non-identical twins distinguished by blonde hair and brunette hair. They were known, throughout their lives, as Fairy and Darky. Innocent times, obviously.
Interesting thought. Big and Little aren’t necessarily derogatory; some of the others (eg. Japanese Mike and Filipino Mike) might be consider offensive if not derogatory - I mean, presumably one was indeed Filipino and the other was Japanese (or Portuguese). And it would depend on the context also. “Here, take this over to Mike”. “Which one?” “Oh, the Filipino one”.
Probably safest all around to include their last name / initial: “Take this to Mike”. “Mike Jones”. “Yes, he’s the Filipino. Mike Jones”.
Of course, our daughter was named after a family friend (now deceased) so my spouse and I would, when referring to the family friend in conversation with immediate family, clarify “Big Moon Unit” vs “Little Moon Unit”.
I think “Big Moon Unit” would probably have been confused to hear the reference. “Filipino Mike” would either have not cared, or been mildly annoyed. “Big Elmo” might have been amused but “Little Elmo” not so much.
All in all, I think it’s probably best to avoid such nicknames except in a group of close friends.
Ummm…I’m Okinawan/Japanese. I worked with a Chinese/White guy who called me Teriyaki openly at our workplace and nobody blinked an eye. And a Puerto Rican co-worker called he Higa because that’s a common Okinawan name (though not my surname). :smack::smack:
I’m considerably shorter than average, and have been my whole life. Probably because when I was picked on my height was often a target used, I do not like being referred to as Little Echo, or the ironic Big Echo. Both have happened, and it is too close to slurs used against me as a child. If I were of average size, I don’t think I would care.
It is usually obvious when the person using “Little Echo” has just picked a convenient nickname I don’t care for, as opposed to when somebody is actually bullying. Fortunately I can’t think of any examples of bullying since childhood. If I wasn’t unusually short, I expect the bullies would have just had to find a less obvious derogatory nickname.
I could see the same thing for somebody of unusually large size, who was picked on about that.
My name isn’t too common, but went through a burst of popularity in ~1989. So now there are several "K"s at my company, when before I was the only one. It’s amusing when we talk to each other, just for the novelty, but others really don’t hand out nicknames wisely. There’s another “K” who is an operator in a unit I deal with; to that unit I’m “Smart K” and he’s… “Other K”. Which probably falls afoul of the corporate hostile workplace policy. Potentially getting fired seems like a high risk to assume for what is at best a minimally clever joke.
I know a father and son who are known as Big Jim and Little Jim. It made more sense when we were kids, and little Jim was still little. But Little Jim grew up to be a foot taller than dad, 100 pounds heavier and built like a lumberjack.
When I got ro high school, my older brother two years ahead already was called “LastName.” Those who knew him called me “Little LastName.” I didn’t much care for either, so when I was given the nickname “Muscles” at the start of Sophomore year, I happily accepted. Heaven forbid people use real names.
Hockey player Joe Pavelski briefly got tagged with “Little Joe” due to playing with Joe Thornton who already had “Big Joe” and “Jumbo Joe.” Fans etc wisely decided that wasn’t there best nickname for a really good professional athlete. Along with “Pavs,” we wound up with “The Big Pavelski” playing off the movie The Big Lebowski.
I worked with two Michaels at an event facility, one of Japanese decent and one was Scandinavian I think. At this facility we used colored tape to identify different microphones: red mic, blue mic, yellow, white, etc. Somebody joked that we should start calling the two Mikes “Yellow Mike” and “White Mike.” This got laughs all around, but having Mikes surrounded by mics was confusing enough, and one of them gently let us know that wouldn’t become a thing. Understandable.
We had only one Cub foods store in our town until they opened another by a new development. To distinguish between the two we called them Ghetto Cub and New Cub.
Born and raised in Hawaii where PC gets its but kicked everyday by us locals who understand and appreciate that all the different peoples were/are able to live on these on these tiny islands because we make fun of each other’s differences and attributes and don’t take things too seriously.
I’m probably the last generation where we were able to openly call each others names and be understood that it’s a sign of affection and acceptance. Buddhahead, katonk, japanee, pake, yobo, borinki, portagee, popolo, olopop, blallah, tita, flip, sole, kanaka, haole, hapa, all words from my parents and ingrained in my mind. Do I use them everyday? No, but every once in a while someone will use it and memories of much simpler time will come back to me.
Oh! How crass and non-PC! So what! Nostalgia has certainly given me rose colored glasses, but unlike some others who lived here, my childhood days weren’t filled with hatred, just a bunch of kids living and playing happily together. Born this way? Possibly. Intentionally obtuse? Probably. Proud to be a resident of Hawaii when things, at least for me, was much simpler and glad to having just a few more decades at most to put up with the ridiculousness of the PC extremes we’re in and headed to and having no children to suffer with it!
Of course, your childhood days weren’t filled with hatred. You were a Hawaiian who was growing up in Hawaii. And I’m a white guy who grew up in rural New England.
But if you had grown up in my hometown, you might have a different perspective. Those friendly nicknames might not have seemed so friendly if you had grown up looking different from the majority of people around you.
When I was working in Iraq, we had two guys on our team, for the purpose of this story, we’ll call them Joe. One of them was killed in an attack while on the road. After that, our team would refer to them as Dead Joe and Not Dead Joe when clarification was needed (but only when amongst ourselves).
My great-grandfather was alive for the first four years of only maternal cousin’s life. Like his dad and his grandfather, my cousin was named after great-grampy. So for a while they were Joe senior, Joe, Joey, and baby Joey. At least until one memorable holiday dinner when my then four-year-old cousin had a screaming meltdown insisting that “I’m not a baby!!!” which of course my then five-year-old brother and my eleven-year-old self immediately supported.
He was called Little Joe after that. Still is, actually
Why the :smack:? Obviously, if you’re mockingly referring to a Japanese co-worker by the name of a Japanese food, that is harassment. Same thing if you tease a Mexican co-worker by calling him “Fajitas” or a German co-worker “Sauerkraut”, etc.
