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Hong Kong cripple writing | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| SueK Groupie United States Joined 4545 days ago 77 posts - 133 votes  Studies: Mandarin | Message 9 of 22 13 February 2012 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | |||||
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@dbag, to answer your question, as I presume you simply want to understand American word usage, it is definetly possible to offend someone using the word cripple in the U.S.. Generally, if you call some one 'a cripple' in a way that suggests that's all they are, it's extremely offensive.
I am definelty on thin ice with my title and hope no one took offense. I see you were all generous in assuming I meant none and I assure you that's correct. I was mearly trying to create a short disriptive title. In the body of my comments, where I called him a crippled man, was more appropriate and unlikely to offend in the U.S., especially given that my remarks of him were not limited to his disfigurement and included admiration for his hard work and talent. Perhaps I should have just have said 'man' in my title, but the fact that his injuries made his task so extremely difficult yet he kept at it for hours on end and did such exacting work despite how difficult it was for him to manipualte his tools, along with the general generosity of the Hong Kong people are what made it worth mentioning, so I included it in the title. I would like to beleive that if he read my remarks, he would see that I mean them as admiration for both him and the locals and would not take offense. I beleive that is generally how things would go in the U.S., though I certainly can't guess for a Hong Kong native, or this specific individual. I hope this answered your question. @Zenmonkey, thanks for the intro to the King of Kowloon. Perhaps I was right in thinking there was something cultural behind it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| smallwhite Pentaglot Senior Member Australia Joined 5102 days ago 537 posts - 1045 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin, French, Spanish | Message 10 of 22 13 February 2012 at 3:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The Kowloon King wasn't really an artist. He was a madman writing on walls. He didn't mean to create art.
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| Northernlights Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4469 days ago 73 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French | Message 11 of 22 13 February 2012 at 4:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I found this article interesting, it's from the New York Times:
King of Kowloon Finally Gets Respect By JOYCE HOR-CHUNG LAU Published: May 4, 2011 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/arts/05iht-kowloon05.html? _r=1&pagewanted=all I've pasted the whole URL because I can't find out how to make those neat links I've seen in some posts. Edited by Northernlights on 13 February 2012 at 4:01pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6346 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 12 of 22 13 February 2012 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
I find this more offensive than using the world crippled (note: not "a cripple"). What he did might be considered outsider art but since it impacted other artists and is recognized as such - he is an artist. This type of textual art -- and the language used as such can be found all over the world. 
I love "text in art" like this or calligraphy, etc.... Edited by zenmonkey on 13 February 2012 at 5:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Northernlights Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4469 days ago 73 posts - 93 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, French | Message 13 of 22 13 February 2012 at 5:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree with you. That post made me feel very sad actually. Btw "crippled" sounds OK to me too, especially in collocations such as "economy" etc. It's the noun that IMHO should be avoided. It hasn't got any text but Richard Dadd's "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke" is wonderful. I saw it at the Tate last summer, not in an "Outsider" exhibition but amongst the insider collection. Outsider art often seems to have text somehow, I really like that too. For me, it's absolutely 100% art. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6346 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 14 of 22 13 February 2012 at 6:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, it speaks more of the the inability of some to see art in easy places - that's OK, I recognize I can't address that everywhere. Even the term "outsider" has its own set of problems ("brute" is just as difficult).
I too have noticed that often "outsider" art has text - the author seems to be trying to tell a story and finds the need to further articulate that by telling - against the idea of "show do not tell". I have not seen the Fairy Feller's or any of Dadd's work in person, although my daughters did go to that exhibit and loved it! Thanks for bringing it up, it got me to talk to them about their London visit. And keeping with this theme --- how many languages?  Edited by zenmonkey on 13 February 2012 at 6:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| SueK Groupie United States Joined 4545 days ago 77 posts - 133 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 15 of 22 14 February 2012 at 9:49am | IP Logged | |||||
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I know there are cultures that use pictographs that will hang words on walls as art. I won't pretend to suggest I how wide spread or limited it might be, but I did personally see this in the factory of Chinese supplier (located in the US) and have read mentions elsewhere.
Clearly there's a belief in some places that pictographs can serve as art. I buy it. You might hang a word that is inspirational and pictographs can be quite beutiful. Sounds like art to me. Given that, along with the beleif that writing, especially poetry, is an artform, I'm personally comfortable calling the King of Kowloon an artist. ..and I don't think madman and artist are mutually exclusive. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6376 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 16 of 22 14 February 2012 at 10:51am | IP Logged | |||||
If you are suggesting that Chinese characters are pictographs, I'm afraid you're mistaken. Chinese characters are logographs, at least when used to write Literary Sinitic. In Mandarin, I'd argue they aren't even logographs. Someone called them "morphosyllabic", but that's quite a mouthful. Edited by Ari on 14 February 2012 at 10:55am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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