# Oh God- Anchor straight reads racist joke names of Asiana pilots **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380 "2013-07-13T01:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/41 "2013-07-13T17:26:42Z")
If it weren’t that three people are dead, the whole incident would look like one long comedy. The pilot was senior to his supposed instructor. Four flight deck crew don’t notice the bad approach to an airport they are all familiar with. On impact, the tail breaks off, spilling debris, passengers, and cabin crew as the aircraft skids and spins down the runway. When they stop, the flight deck crew meditates on what to do next. The co-pilot of a plane on an adjacent runway calls for help for survivors who he (not to mention his passengers) has spotted, but his call doesn’t seem to be a priority with rescuers. When the crashed plane’s pilot does call for evacuation, two of the chutes deploy inside the aircraft, squashing a couple of cabin crew. They are freed with a fire ax and a dinner knife. The surviving passengers grab their camera-equipped cellphones and run like bunnies, looking back like a crowd of Lot’s wives to see the plane in flames. One isn’t fast enough and is run over by a fire truck. I’m guessing there will be more of the same as more details emerge. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/42 "2013-07-13T17:40:12Z")
> [@FeAudrey](#): > > The co-pilot of a plane on an adjacent runway calls for help for survivors who he (not to mention his passengers) has spotted, but his call doesn’t seem to be a priority with rescuers. Now that’s a detail I haven’t seen. Where did you find that? ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/43 "2013-07-13T17:53:34Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Now that’s a detail I haven’t seen. Where did you find that? > **[Asiana flight crash at San Francisco - PPRuNe Forums](https://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/518568-asiana-flight-crash-san-francisco-51.html)** > > Rumours & News - Asiana flight crash at San Francisco - To all of you saying it is very basic to keep the speed, I agree. Now I ask those who did the STAR conversion from the B744 to the B777, like I recently did. Do you think you had enough visual... Scroll down to paragraph 5, starting “Approximately …”. Googling “united 885” will turn up more discussion of the pilot’s report. ---
**Author:** ![FeAudrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FeAudrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FeAudrey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/44 "2013-07-13T18:10:21Z")
More, from today’s San Francisco _Chronicle_: [http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/2-United-pilots-radioed-for-aid-minutes-after-4662994.php](http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/2-United-pilots-radioed-for-aid-minutes-after-4662994.php) ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/45 "2013-07-13T18:31:10Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > The worst part is that the “names” don’t even _look_ Korean. The individual syllables look more like Chinese stereotype names, and they’re also formatted incorrectly for Korean names. Korean given names are typically represented in Roman characters by connecting the two syllables with a hyphen. > > That said, I have to admit that I don’t get “Bang Ding Ow”. I don’t think this is obvious to people who don’t speak Korean or Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/46 "2013-07-13T18:35:27Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I don’t think this is obvious to people who don’t speak Korean or Chinese. That’s pretty much my point. Given the amount of news coverage North Korea and China have gotten in recent years, you’d think a _journalist_ might say, “Wait just a gosh-darned minute!” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/47 "2013-07-13T18:44:08Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > The worst part is that the “names” don’t even _look_ Korean. The individual syllables look more like Chinese stereotype names, and they’re also formatted incorrectly for Korean names. Korean given names are typically represented in Roman characters by connecting the two syllables with a hyphen. Yes, _that’s_ the problem here. 😃 > [@](#): > > That said, I have to admit that I don’t get “Bang Ding Ow”. I got a different thing from the name than my husband - he got the same one as **runner pat** - I understood it as Bang the Ding Ow (Out) of the plane after it crashed. I still thought it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/48 "2013-07-13T18:50:04Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > I don’t think this is obvious to people who don’t speak Korean or Chinese. I don’t speak either, I don’t have a degree of any sort, none of my jobs have ever put me in constant contact with foreign names and that was the first thing I spotted even before actually reading the names. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/49 "2013-07-13T18:57:20Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > That’s pretty much my point. Given the amount of news coverage North Korea and China have gotten in recent years, you’d think a _journalist_ might say, “Wait just a gosh-darned minute!” Are you suggesting that the news-readers are journalists? Or are you referring to whoever put the scripts on the teleprompters? ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/50 "2013-07-13T19:28:21Z")
As someone who has lived with the fucking annoyance of having a phone number really really close to one that was undergoing a flood of calls, here is my prediction of what happened. Everyone in the world is calling the NTSB. Random dude is getting 1% of the calls. Random dude is pissed and finally answers the phone NTSB and gives the station these 4 names. Hijinks occur. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/51 "2013-07-13T19:47:12Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Are you suggesting that the news-readers are journalists? Or are you referring to whoever put the scripts on the teleprompters? Whoever it was who wrote the piece. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/52 "2013-07-13T19:51:19Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > As someone who has lived with the fucking annoyance of having a phone number really really close to one that was undergoing a flood of calls, here is my prediction of what happened. > > Everyone in the world is calling the NTSB. > Random dude is getting 1% of the calls. > Random dude is pissed and finally answers the phone NTSB and gives the station these 4 names. > Hijinks occur. That’s not how it happened. Some joker provided the names to the TV station, which called the NTSB for confirmation. A summer intern there confirmed the names. The NTSB has acknowledged that. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/53 "2013-07-13T20:33:35Z")
Tragically hilarious ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/54 "2013-07-13T22:04:16Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Are you suggesting that the news-readers are journalists? Or are you referring to whoever put the scripts on the teleprompters? Actually, you do make a good point. The talking heads probably majored in Broadcasting, not Jourrnalism. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2013, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/55 "2013-07-13T22:11:39Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Actually, you do make a good point. The talking heads probably majored in Broadcasting, not Jourrnalism. But that would still require reading ahead and making sure you know how to pronounce those funny foreign names. Even more so. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/56 "2013-07-15T05:00:17Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The demise of professional journalism due to the Internet has made such things much more common. They don’t have the resources to fact-check everything, so they take AP stories and add some local connection or they simply run with what they’re told. … > Ed Murrow is rolling over in his grave, and Ben Bradlee just went apoplectic. The demise of journalism is almost complete. Your blog now carries about the same weight as the _New York Times_, and given enough time will probably be quoted by them as God’s own truth. It is NOT the fault of the Internet. The Internet has only revealed what’s been true all along. “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.” —Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Norvell (June 11, 1807) Knoll’s Law of Media Accuracy: Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true—except for the rare story of which you happen to have firsthand knowledge. —Erwin Knoll, editor, “The Progressive” “… it was the first time that I had seen a person whose profession was telling lies—unless one counts journalists.” —George Orwell, “Homage to Catalonia” (1938) > [@aceplace57](#): > > The thread title is wrong. There’s nothing racist about making puns of names. Ben Dover, Ima Hog, Ura Hog and others have made people laugh for a hundred years. Ima Hogg was the daughter of Texas Governor James Hogg. Contrary to humor, she did not have a sister named “Ura”. [Ima Hogg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ima_Hogg) > [@](#): > > Ima Hogg (July 10, 1882 – August 19, 1975), known as “The First Lady of Texas”, was an American philanthropist, patron and collector of the arts, and one of the most respected women in Texas during the 20th century. > [@runner pat](#): > > It’s a Fox affiliate. Since when did fact-checking become part of their job? See above quotes. > [@runner pat](#): > > Forged documents are somewhat harder to confirm in a few minutes that obviously fake names. Rather’s own experts TOLD him they could not confirm the documents. That great journalist went with them anyway. > [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Actually, you do make a good point. The talking heads probably majored in Broadcasting, not Jourrnalism. You think there’s a difference? Naivete is so cute! ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/57 "2013-07-15T07:32:13Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > IYou think there’s a difference? Naivete is so cute! D’aw 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![smee\_goan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@smee\_goan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smee_goan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/58 "2013-07-15T07:37:06Z")
books: “I P Nightly” by Rusty Bedsprings ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/59 "2013-07-15T11:10:45Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > … Ben Dover, Ima Hog, Ura Hog and others have made people laugh for a hundred years … [Ima Hogg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ima_Hogg) is a real person as are Krista Bendová and Odd Bang Hansen. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380/60 "2013-07-15T11:44:50Z")
If reports are true, the airline is going to sue KTVU over “damage to its reputation”. That seems ill-advised to me. First, surely their primary concern at this time should be the crash investigation and the welfare of the passengers and crew, rather than some little prank? And secondly, any damage to their reputation from this must be pretty minor compared to that from, you know, flying a plane into the ground? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-god-anchor-straight-reads-racist-joke-names-of-asiana-pilots/663380.md?page=4)