# What conoatations does 'Inscrutable' have for you. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 15, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912 "2010-09-15T23:55:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/1 "2010-09-15T23:55:19Z")
Reading the thread about the magic negro [The Magical Negro - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=578324) reminded me of something similar I had a discussion about a while ago. Much like people talk about “The magic Negro” They used talk about “The inscrutable Chinaman” character(in fact virtually the only context inscrutable is used in) Which I will leave undefined for the purposes of this thread. Leaving the modern awkwardness of Chinaman aside, what connotations does inscrutable have in your mind? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/2 "2010-09-16T00:03:26Z")
not remembering the definition of “inscrutable,” at first glance I tend to interpret it as “The guy from China that nobody can figure out.” as in, can’t determine what his motivations are. can’t place it to a specific situation, though. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/3 "2010-09-16T00:49:14Z")
To me, inscrutable ordinarily has a negative connotation. It is impossible to understand why they are doing something bad. However, when used with old terms like Chinaman, I realize it’s a character type, and thus believe it will have the more normal definition, of just being not understandable. The term today might be “Those Wacky Japanese”. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/4 "2010-09-16T00:56:03Z")
The old Asian cliche, and a line I read somewhere;\* “I’ve always found that once money is involved they suddenly become quite scrutable.” \* It was a wealthy character commenting that Asians are as self interested as anyone else, not some “Asians are greedy” racist slam, lest anyone take offense. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/5 "2010-09-16T01:08:06Z")
I’ve heard inscrutable a few times used in earnest lately, and while not associated with anyone Chinese, it still makes me uncomfortable because of that connotation. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/6 "2010-09-16T01:29:12Z")
I thought of China too. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/7 "2010-09-16T02:15:34Z")
It means unreadable, but it has a clearly racist history. When Asians adopt what would be called by Englishmen a “stiff upper lip” or “phlegmatic” demeanour, they are called inscrutable, which has acquired the negative connotation of actively concealing one’s true emotions, with more than a hint that this is somehow shifty or deceptive. When a 19 C Englishman does the same thing, it is portrayed as a heroic virtue, rising above mere emotionality to which ghastly lesser folk like the French and Italians are prone. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/8 "2010-09-16T02:18:31Z")
BTW, is there not a similar word that means without scruples? I thought maybe inscru **p** able, but that does not appear to be a word. I know I’ve heard a similar word used for that definition. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/9 "2010-09-16T02:36:14Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > BTW, is there not a similar word that means without scruples? I thought maybe inscru **p** able, but that does not appear to be a word. I know I’ve heard a similar word used for that definition. Unscrupulous. ---
**Author:** ![Iubaris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@Iubaris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iubaris)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/10 "2010-09-16T07:45:57Z")
Inscrutable is just a word, to me. I don’t have any negative associations with it, and I’ve never heard of some “inscrutable Chinaman” phrase. When did that go out of use? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/11 "2010-09-17T21:59:50Z")
> [@Iubaris](#): > > Inscrutable is just a word, to me. I don’t have any negative associations with it, and I’ve never heard of some “inscrutable Chinaman” phrase. When did that go out of use? I think I’ve heard that _once_, maybe. It certainly doesn’t stick in my mind as some sort of stereotype\*. Why would someone from China be any more inscrutable than anyone else who speaks a language you don’t? OTOH, I can’t figure out how black folks were ever connected to spooks, either. \*now that I think about it, I’m unsure what “stereo” in stereotype means…looking up the defintion of stereo- _and_ stereo reveals no clues. Solid? Sound reproduction? Wha? ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/12 "2010-09-19T04:58:17Z")
The context I’ve always seen it in, I think if it as “cleverly mysterious”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/13 "2010-09-19T05:01:55Z")
Cats. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/14 "2010-09-19T08:19:02Z")
> [@Iubaris](#): > > Inscrutable is just a word, to me. I don’t have any negative associations with it, and I’ve never heard of some “inscrutable Chinaman” phrase. When did that go out of use? This is my experience too. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/15 "2010-09-19T14:03:20Z")
“poker faced” would be another way of saying it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/16 "2010-09-19T16:21:33Z")
Cool, interesting. I completly forgot to mention asking if people could also post their age. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/17 "2010-09-19T16:21:54Z")
The inscrutable Chinaman would be a common cliche in US usage up through the late 1960s. If you weren’t around then, or read/watch a lot of stuff from that era, you’d probably not have heard it since. Inscrutable means, literally, unable to be read. Applied to people, the implication is you can’t determine their motives and therefore their likely next move. Part of the motivation as applied to Chinese is/was the sheer alienness of their culture (by US standards) meant they’d do things no one would expect for reasons nobody would understand. Feng Shui is an example of rules & prescriptions which drive routine traditional Chinese behavior but which make no sense in the West. Just as a Chinese person would be mystified that anyone would bury a statue of St. Joseph headfirst in their front yard. You did _What_? _Why_? Reading facial expressions across ethnic lines is also difficult for humans. Or at least more difficult than reading them within one’s own ethnic group. Again the alienness of Chinese at a time when the US was 99% non-Oriental would have enhanced the impression that “You can’t tell whether they’re lying, joking, or being serious.” Naturally, in business there can be some advantage to being unreadable. And even today Chinese have a reputation of being ruthless businessmen, playing harder & with less sense of “fair play” than the idealized early 20th century Anglo Saxon might have preferred. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/18 "2010-09-20T04:48:00Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > > [@BigT](#): > > > > BTW, is there not a similar word that means without scruples? I thought maybe inscru **p** able, but that does not appear to be a word. I know I’ve heard a similar word used for that definition. > > Unscrupulous. Thanks for helping me with the brain fart. It’s one of those things where, if I get the wrong word stuck in my head, I can’t think of the right one. But I’m not sure that one is similar enough for its connotations to have rubbed off on inscrutable, as I was going to propose. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vagabond](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@The\_Vagabond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vagabond)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/19 "2014-10-15T09:40:55Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Just as a Chinese person would be mystified that anyone would bury a statue of St. Joseph headfirst in their front yard. You did _What_? _Why_? You don’t have to be Chinese to be confused by that! Why would anyone bury a statue of St. Joseph headfirst in their front yard? :S Definitely what you and other said though. I think the term originated with the British Empire’s reactions to dealing with the Chinese. The old difficulty that people from seperate cultures have in recognising ‘tells’ - their body language, their facial expressions (even recognising faces - saying ‘they all look the same’ is racist, but the scientific fact is people have trouble recognising facial markers on people of a radically different race, unless they were raised, or have spent many years, around people of that ethnicity.) Someone mentioned the British ‘stiff upper lip’ being a less pejorative analogy, and I think there is that interesting parallel between traditional british and chinese society - the strong strictures and traditions of polite behaviour that governed both Empires that while similar in principle, differed in specifics, thus rendering Chinese people ‘inscrutable’ from a British perspective (and, doubtless, the other way round, but the Brits had the guns, the opium and a global empire, so their pejorative term stuck and became known around the world) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912/20 "2014-10-15T14:49:23Z")
Unreadable people; ones where I can’t get any fix on their facial reactions. I’ve known a lot of Orientals but when I think inscrutable the names of several Native American friends flash through my brain; especially the Abenaki and Seneca. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conoatations-does-inscrutable-have-for-you/553912.md?page=2)