On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 02:27:40 GMT, "necoandjeff" <spam@schrepfer.com>
wrote:

>"Craig Welch" <craig@pacific.net.sg> wrote in message
>news:b66fk09g0riodqrdnpv891b7gpjiu0gpae@4ax.com...
>> On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 18:25:26 GMT, "necoandjeff" <spam@schrepfer.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Again, it depends on where and when in the U.S. Orient and oriental have
>> >already fallen out of use in many parts of the country, certainly in
>> >California and probably New York. I wouldn't recommend sitting in any
>sort
>> >of professional job interview anywhere in the U.S. and using the words
>> >orient or oriental.
>>
>> I'm surprised that you consider professional US interviewers to have
>> such a lack of worldliness.
>
>I wouldn't want to take any chance with my assumptions if I wanted the job,
>would you? For many interviewers in the U.S., it would be the use of the
>word Oriental that would convey a lack of worldliness. I'm not approving or
>disapproving of such a view, just telling it like it is.

For which you have my gratitude.

>> Were I taking part in such an interview, would it be equally unwise
>> to refer to the niggardly serve of coffee I received whilst waiting?
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/246co
>> http://tinyurl.com/3z4tu
>
>Considering the uproar several years back (was it someone in the D.C.
>mayor's office?) over someone's public use of the word niggardly (however
>irrational), again, I would err on the conservative side and not assume that
>my interviewer may not know that it is a completely different word, and has
>a completely different etymology.

I'm coming to the view that I'm never going to get that job ... or I
might just be coming to the Groucho Marx view that if I played my
cards right and got the job thusly, I wouldn't want the job.
>
>> If the topic got on to sports, should I not mention that I've played
>> football at the E. S. 'Nigger' Brown Stadium?

>> http://tinyurl.com/6zhnk
>
>Um, yeah. I think you might be advised not to mention that little gem in an
>interview with an American interviewer.

OK. It's our little secret.

>> Were I to have taken a bag lunch (these all day interviews are
>> tedious) I guess I should take pains to hide my Coon cheese?
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/6ox8e
>
>Again, considering that an American interviewer would have a different
>reaction to your mention of "coon cheese" (being a brand that few Americans
>have probably ever heard of), and that you may be misunderstood, yes, I
>would avoid mentioning it.

OK again. I'll stick to the bagel and lox lunch.

>Of course, if you have some point you want to make on principle, or if you
>want to deliberately provoke someone, only to go on and explain how you are
>right and they are wrong. And if you think displaying your linguistic
>prowess and "worldliness" in such a manner would be an effective way getting
>a job offer, by all means.

No, that would be counter-productive. Far more fun to play such
pointless  games in Usenet, don't you agree?

-- 
Craig