# Sick and tired **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 7, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635 "2009-03-07T06:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/21 "2009-03-07T08:35:53Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > I didn’t know it was a status symbol. I knew it was a cliche, and it slightly annoys me that people might judge us as a cliche couple when they see us walking down the street together. Can’t help that though. Where do you live? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/22 "2009-03-07T08:37:52Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Where do you live? Japan - so, yeah it is a total cliche, especially here. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/23 "2009-03-07T08:40:37Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Japan - so, yeah it is a total cliche, especially here. Dude. Seriously. Do really think this fucking thread is about people who live in fucking _Japan_? Are you just \*looking \*for a fight? This thread is obviously not about you. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/24 "2009-03-07T08:44:24Z")
Huh?? I don’t want a fight at all. Sorry if the tone was … off. My mistake, but your sentiment IS a very sore point over here, maybe you didn’t know that. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/25 "2009-03-07T08:51:36Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Huh?? > > I don’t want a fight at all. Sorry if the tone was .. off. My mistake, but your sentiment IS a very sore point over here, maybe you didn’t know that. Uh . . . you seemed to be getting defensive. But if it’s a sore point, then . . . aren’t you agreeing with me that it’s a racist cliche? I don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/26 "2009-03-07T08:52:44Z")
I don’t live in Japan, don’t have an Asian wife, don’t have an Asian girlfriend, don’t even have any Asian friends, and I _still_ don’t know what the “Asian girlfriend thing” is. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/27 "2009-03-07T08:54:16Z")
. . . then . . . it’s not a cliche that you’ve encountered. Cool. Uh, relevance? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/28 "2009-03-07T09:11:58Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Uh . . . you seemed to be getting defensive. But if it’s a sore point, then . . . aren’t you agreeing with me that it’s a racist cliche? I don’t understand. If I understand what you’re saying, and I’m not sure I do, then I think we might be looking at the same issue but from opposite sides of the mirror. Are you saying that the western guy - asian female pairing is … racist? Or that it’s a cliche in the eyes of racists? I’m confused now. 😛 But seriously, I can’t even begin to explain how much the western guy and asian gal couple is a politicized issue here. I’m tired of it - and if I had the energy I’d make my own I’m sick and tired list and put that at the top (or second from the top, after Joe the Plumber). Also, I don’t want to hijack your list thread, so carry on all. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/29 "2009-03-07T09:18:08Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > If I understand what you’re saying, and I’m not sure I do, then I think we might be looking at the same issue but from opposite sides of the mirror. Are you saying that the western guy - asian female pairing is … racist? Or that it’s a cliche in the eyes of racists? I’m saying that the “Asian girlfriend as status symbol” that’s become a tired cliche is racist. I have no idea what the context of this issue is in Japan. I’m in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/30 "2009-03-07T09:21:22Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > . . . then . . . it’s not a cliche that you’ve encountered. Cool. Uh, relevance? I don’t even know what the hell you mean, and I would like to know. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/31 "2009-03-07T09:34:28Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I’m saying that the “Asian girlfriend as status symbol” that’s become a tired cliche is racist. I have no idea what the context of this issue is in Japan. I’m in the US. So it’s racist to have an asian girlfriend as a status symbol? I can get behind that - if your only reason for being with a girl is because of her race, then yeah, maybe it is racism. I don’t know. I didn’t know people chose their girlfriends as status symbols. I never have. Maybe it’s a Seattle thing. I’ll be there in May, with two Japanese female colleagues from work, so I’ll have a chance to observe people being sick of me first hand. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/32 "2009-03-07T09:34:48Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > I don’t even know what the hell you mean, and I would like to know. If we sat down and shared a pitcher, I bet we could come up a lot of things that you’re familiar with that I have absolutely no inkling of. But, in this case, the phenomenon that you’re unaware of, and that’s been remarked on by far more intelligent people than me, is that it’s become something of a status symbol, obviously in some locales more than others, to have an Asian girlfriend. I don’t make any claim to know how it started, or became such a cliche, or whatever; I’ve only remarked on it: noticed it. And have come across various other mentionings of it in the culture. Cf, the Dandy Warhol’s link above. Skim through the 198,000 hits Google coughs up for the phrase “asian girlfriend” to get an idea of how established a cultural meme it is. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/33 "2009-03-07T09:49:02Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Skim through the 198,000 hits Google coughs up for the phrase “asian girlfriend” to get an idea of how established a cultural meme it is. Yes, but that pales in comparison to the number of hits I get when I google the small local chain coffee shop by my place (557 000 hits). And if 198000 results is a cultural phenomenon, I am extremely pleased by the results of a google search of “my penis”. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/34 "2009-03-07T09:52:16Z")
Well, I’m sick of: “age-defying” “cougars” saying something is “the new something else” …and the n-word! Seriously! can we move on? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/35 "2009-03-07T09:53:01Z")
> [@Jeff](#): > > Yes, but that pales in comparison to the number of hits I get when I google the small local chain coffee shop by my place (557 000 hits). And if 198000 results is a cultural phenomenon, I am extremely pleased by the results of a google search of “my penis”. What’s the name of your small local coffee shop? Did you use quotes, like I did? Without quotes “asian” “girl” and “friend” yields 6,380,000 hits. So, you should probably know how to use Google before you argue that angle. “my penis” in quotes, for example, nets 2,270,000. Without, it’s 6,940,000. See how that works? ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/36 "2009-03-07T09:58:36Z")
Grrr. You’ve got one of my kids and BOTH of my grandkids on your list! I didn’t name the grands… ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/37 "2009-03-07T10:02:31Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > If we sat down and shared a pitcher, I bet we could come up a lot of things that you’re familiar with that I have absolutely no inkling of. > > But, in this case, the phenomenon that you’re unaware of, and that’s been remarked on by far more intelligent people than me, is that it’s become something of a status symbol, obviously in some locales more than others, to have an Asian girlfriend. I don’t make any claim to know how it started, or became such a cliche, or whatever; I’ve only remarked on it: noticed it. And have come across various other mentionings of it in the culture. Cf, the Dandy Warhol’s link above. Skim through the 198,000 hits Google coughs up for the phrase “asian girlfriend” to get an idea of how established a cultural meme it is. 395,000 for “Broom Girlfriend” That’s one goddamn annoying cliche! And quite the cultural phenomena! In all seriousness, though, I’m tired of Che T-shirts. The irony aside, most of the kids who wear them don’t have the slightest idea about him. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/38 "2009-03-07T10:18:13Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > What’s the name of your small local coffee shop? Did you use quotes, like I did? Without quotes “asian” “girl” and “friend” yields 6,380,000 hits. So, you should probably know how to use Google before you argue that angle. > > “my penis” in quotes, for example, nets 2,270,000. Without, it’s 6,940,000. See how that works? I see your penis is as popular as mine. Good show. But honestly, 198k google hits on a phrase, and a mention in a 9yr old obscure song is not much proof of anything. Also I googled Woody Fucking Allen and couldn’t get much traction there either. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/39 "2009-03-07T10:29:17Z")
> [@Jeff](#): > > I see your penis is as popular as mine. Good show. > > But honestly, 198k google hits on a phrase, and a mention in a 9yr old obscure song is not much proof of anything. > > Also I googled Woody Fucking Allen and couldn’t get much traction there either. I don’t know what you think I’m trying to prove. The phrase doesn’t get as many hits as “paris hilton” or “big tits,” if that’s in what context you think 198,000 is too small to be relevant. But it’s more than TWICE as many hits as any other “[ethnicity] girlfriend” phrase netted me. So in a relevant context, that’s at least proof that it’s a meme that I didn’t pull out of my ass. The song reference is not supposed to prove that it’s the single most important issue facing pop songwriters today, if that’s what you think I’m suggesting. But it’s certainly evidence that it’s been a cultural, again, overused word, \*meme \*(add that to the list please) for more than nine years. Again, simply evidence that I didn’t pull it out of my ass. So cool, you’ve proven that this phenomenon has not blipped your personal awareness radar. Cool, whatever. How does \*that \*prove that other people haven’t noticed it and remarked on it? It doesn’t. You personal ignorance of the concept is not proof, it’s not even evidence, that the phenomenon doesn’t exist; only that you haven’t heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635/40 "2009-03-07T10:33:02Z")
> [@Todderbob](#): > > 395,000 for “Broom Girlfriend” No, **115** hits for “Broom Girlfriend”. People, if you’re going to argue about Google hits, please learn how to do them properly. Thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sick-and-tired/488635.md?page=3)