# There is really no such thing as Chinese New Years **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 9, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815 "2005-01-09T01:50:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/21 "2005-01-09T06:09:42Z")
/me smacks **7 up yours** with a pair of ivory chopsticks for being such an embarrassing example of a humorless stick-in-the-mud Chinese BBQ pork sausage. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/22 "2005-01-09T07:25:13Z")
I just really cannot comprehend how you could be in the _least_ bit offended when people make an attempt (however crappy) to learn your language. I consider it quite amazing (and a sort of special honour funnily enough) that NES people take the time and effort to learn English. Why should you find it an insult that someone who has business dealings with your company tries to learn a few words in Cantonese (Mandarin, whatever)? I think it is quite charming actually. If you keep bouncing up and down on that jagged stick, you’ll find something legitimate to complain about eventually. Severe anal lacerations most likely. Twit. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/23 "2005-01-09T07:34:53Z")
NES People, **kambuckta**? To me, that means Mario, Luigi, Link, and Zelda but that doesn’t seem very likely. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/24 "2005-01-09T07:38:38Z")
Shit, sorry **Aesiron**. NES is shorthand here for Non English Speaking. I’m sure some of them were called Mario and Luigi and Zelda though. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/25 "2005-01-09T09:12:48Z")
I see you’re from “Canehda” - is that supposed to be some sort of pun on the way we speak? Isn’t that a little condescending? I should correct you right now - \*not all Canadians say “eh”! \* And some of us consider it an insult! :mad: Okay, there. I’ve corrected you. Now I will call the lunar calendar new year Tet. We’re even. 😃 Yes, I am Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/26 "2005-01-09T12:43:35Z")
From now on, I think I’ll call it “Freedom New Year”. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/27 "2005-01-09T12:54:30Z")
7 up, just curious how you even say “lunar new year” in chinese? i only hear ‘chunjie’ or ‘guonian’ or ‘xinnian’ – none of which translates as ‘lunar’. What am i missing on the lunar part. thanks. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/28 "2005-01-09T13:48:58Z")
You’d be hard pressed to find a geologist that told you the center of the universe was somwhere on the surface of the planet; in the vicinity of eastern Asian. Oddly enough, most could find China on the map with a blindfold. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/29 "2005-01-09T16:26:34Z")
In Korea, it’s called Korean New Year (in Korean, the holiday is called _solnal_–“New Day”) to distinguish it from the Gregorian New Year they celebrate with the rest of the world. They’d be surprised to hear that it’s owned by the Chinese. As for the IOP, he’s being waaaay too touchy. After all, he lives in Canada, eh, which prides itself in being inclusive and welcoming to all faiths, cultures and traditions. Maybe the co-workers are just trying to recognize the OP’s cultural heritage. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/30 "2005-01-10T05:56:06Z")
> [@7 up yours](#): > > So, someone trying to specifically learn Chinese in attempt to “communicate” with me makes it seem like they’re trying to look down upon me and my supposed inferior grasp of language. Got it. Don’t try to talk with **7 up yours**. Shouldn’t be hard. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/31 "2005-01-10T06:20:00Z")
Media in Hong Kong seem uncertain about just how to refer to the holiday. Both ‘lunar new year’ and ‘Chinese new year’ are used (I just checked the South _China Morning Post_ online and the one use on the main page was ‘lunar new year’). This is one of those situations where it’s very likely for writers to think very carefully about the options, given the flavour that each alternative has. The kind of process that led to people using United Kingdom in preference to Great Britain (with the latter carrying a greater hint of jingoism) may indeed cause ‘lunar new year’ (it needs no ‘the’ so shouldn’t offend the most observing Jew) to prevail over time. ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/32 "2005-01-10T22:32:41Z")
> [@7 up yours](#): > > I realise not everyone knows what will offend and won’t offend, and it’s different for everyone. However, when I’ve mentioned it once already, I would think he’d at least try to keep it in mind. Because when you’ve decided, that just to be different, you’re going to be pointlessly annoyed by one tiny little detail that hardly any one else even agrees with you about, never mind is annoyed about, everyone around you should remember that and treat you like you’re special. Because you are. Special, that is. In the head. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/33 "2005-01-10T23:44:41Z")
If a switch is required, I propose we go with “That _Other_ New Year.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/34 "2005-01-11T00:58:50Z")
> [@7 up yours](#): > > When he replies with “Oh, I mean, your Chinese new year” it takes me time to comprehend what he means. I figure it out, tell him that I’d rather he refer it to as the lunar new year when talking to me. If he complies, all is well. If it comes up in another conversation as “Chinese” instead of “Lunar”, it makes me agitated. You act like your the only one with a lunar new year. If someone said lunar new year I’d also think Rosh Hashanah or maybe Annakut, Samhain, Ugadi and who can forget Islamic New Year. Lunar New Year is not the exact word for Chinese New Year in English. Chinese New Year is. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815/35 "2005-01-11T01:08:51Z")
I also have it on [good authority](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year) that “lunar new year” is not completely accurate to describe it, as it is “lunisolar”. I will forgive 7 Up Yours for his unforgivable ignorance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-is-really-no-such-thing-as-chinese-new-years/283815.md?page=1)