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A comment on Kenyans Say Chinese Investment Brings Racism and Discrimination (2018). Parent comment

Re:Kenyans Say Chinese Investment Brings Racism and Discrimi... by Kliment on Sunday February 03, 2019 @07:01AM (#19069143)
About "French book" etc, I don't think this is particularly different in other languages - we have phrases like "french kiss" or "dutch oven" or "it's all greek to me" in English that have nothing to do with the country involved and everything to do with some historical stereotype or linguistic accident.
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Re:Kenyans Say Chinese Investment Brings Racism and Discrimi... by gpm on Sunday February 03, 2019 @07:26AM (#19069242)
There is a vast difference between randomly labeling some things with a nationality, and labeling everything about a nationality the same way.

If I say 'French car' I don't mean 'sexy car', if I say 'that French dude with brown hair' it doesn't have any connotations about sex or something.

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Re:Kenyans Say Chinese Investment Brings Racism and Discrimi... by iguy on Sunday February 03, 2019 @09:29AM (#19069702)
True. But I think "French" in particular was used this way for lots of things in English, maybe 100 years ago. "French letter", advertising "French lessons", etc. I guess it faded as the place became less exotic.
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Re:Kenyans Say Chinese Investment Brings Racism and Discrimi... by zrobotics on Sunday February 03, 2019 @10:58AM (#19070272)
Considering how common french fries and french toast are, it's a fairly unhelpful generalization to teach to students. Aside from a french kiss, there aren't many common phrases in US vernacular that still make the association french=sexy.
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