Jane Hill writes about white racist use of Spanish (for example, in the States), particularly for humourous effect. She describes this use as racist (particularly when erroneous, e.g. No problemo (correct form: no problema)) as it relies on the hearer being able to recall racist stereotypes in order to find the use of language humorous. She calls this use of language Mock Spanish. I'm really interested in the version of this (Mock Kriol) which is often heard spoken by whitefellas in or around Aboriginal communities in Australia - especially the Kriol-speaking context I am familiar with.
But I digress. These photos are of ads in a Melbourne tram. They are part of a campaign to reduce fare evasion. They appeal to an understanding of karma, and are written in a roman font which approximates Devanagari. It also strikes me that the word order is also Mock Hindi, though I'm not an expert on Hindi word order. What do you think?
6 comments:
They sound like gammon chinese proverbs to me... not that I know much about this stuff. But if they're blurring chinese stuff with indian stuff and rolling them into one, then yeah that's pretty lame.
But what do you do? Make a fuss so that all the righties who hate leftist political correctness have more to argue with or just tell people that it's a crap campaign so that it just fades away...
Hey Wamut,
I hadn't thought of their similarity to chinese proverbs, but I think you're on to something.
And, cynical much? ;)
I think it's Mock-Foreignness with a generalized Asian flair. Chinese-ish proverbs, Indian English, Buddhist-Hindu amalgam of karma and curses, Asiany-looking font...
I agree with Wamut that it's more simply lame than deeply offensive and an outcry reinforces the stereotypes of lefties as humorless whingers. However, every reinforcement of racial and ethnic stereotypes diminishes us all a little. Perhaps the best response would be a subversive campaign of graffiti on all the signs.
"Talk back to the text": that's what we teachers tell students to do!
Is it wrong of me not to think these are racist? I agree with Wamut - these ads are lame. But (at the risk of sounding like a humourless whinger) I do not disagree with the use of stereotypes for humour; and I do not think that all racial stereotypes are racist stereotypes. I s'pose the difficulty is that everyone draws their line in the sand (of what is/isn't appropriate) in a different place, so some will be offended by what others think is fine/funny. But humour is all about tapping into something recognisable, some culturally shared idea. It's human nature to generalise about ourselves and each other, and it's human nature to laugh at ourselves and each other.
"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?" (Mr. Bennet, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen)
Hello,
I came across your blog while browsing websites.
Just thought I would comment and say I noticed similar displays to these on road side signs and advertisments etc in New Delhi, India , earlier this year.
They stand out there because you get used to code-switching in spoken and written language - english written in devnagiri and hindi in english...So the combination font takes you by surprise - especially if you struggle to read the Hindi, making the advertisment more noticable.
Im not sure why they are using on trams here though...
Also the word order in Hindi is pretty much always Subject-Object-Verb. The word order seems strange in these examples but to that extent.
Hello,
A very interesting post and thanks for posting all those pics.
I am an Indian who lived in Melbourne for a while and somewhere, somehow, I loved these ads :)
If I attempt to explain why the phrases are written the way they are, then I might have to explain a little bit about Sanskrit. Any kind of sermon/message/blessing/curse etc written in Sanskrit is normally used in a passive voice. Something along the lines of -May truth always triumph... Lord takes birth in human form whenever there is destruction of love and peace...
Anyhow, I had a laugh reading your collection of pics and I think with all the bright Bollywoody colours seen splashing in the letters it gives it a typical ethnic touch. Also note the letters are 'fonted' to give the Devanagari touch (the straight line cutting on top of every word).
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