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Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

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Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

You are here: Home / Music / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy Old New Year!

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Happy Old New Year!

by | 146 Comments

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…A stubborn remnant of the Julian calendar also known as “Eastern Orthodox New Year” — or, per Wikipedia, Makar Sankranti, a Hindu harvest festival that’s sometimes conflated with the winter solstice (although it sounds more like Imbolc to me).

As for the song at the top of this post…

“Shchedryk” (from Ukrainian: Щедрий вечiр, “Bountiful Evening”) is a Ukrainian shchedrivka, or New Year’s carol. It was arranged by composer and teacher Mykola Leontovych in 1916, and tells a story of a swallow flying into a household to sing of wealth that will come with the following spring. “Shchedryk” was originally sung on the night of January 13, New Year’s Eve in the Julian Calendar (December 31 Old Style), which is Shchedry Vechir. Early performances of the piece were made by students at Kyiv University.[1]

“Shchedryk” was later adapted as an English Christmas carol, “Carol of the Bells”, by Peter J. Wilhousky following a performance of the original song by Alexander Koshetz’s Ukrainian National Chorus at Carnegie Hall on October 5, 1921…

***********
There’s another GOP debate tonight, this one in South Carolina, sponsored by Fox Business News and moderated by Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo. USA Today has the details for those who want to watch — only seven contenders on the main stage this time, because Fiorina and Rand Paul got cut. (Carly will participate in the ‘undercard’ with Huckabee and Santorum, but Little Prince Rand has vowed to boycott this insult to his vast libertarian army.)

Apart from enjoying every festival (or debacle) we can, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Reader Interactions

146Comments

  2. 2.

    Kay

    moderated by Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo

    Oh, God. I couldn’t watch just based on that. The questions will be based on lies, never mind the answers. I genuinely feel bad for those earnest people who do the “fact checking” pieces after debates. It’ll be 5000 words.

  3. 3.

    amk

    agenda – watching the rethugs poutrage going from how could iran take our sailors to how could iran release their photos?

  4. 4.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Kay:

    Oh, God. I couldn’t watch just based on that.

    I’m sorry Kay, you’ll have to turn in you political nerd card.

  6. 6.

    PurpleGirl

    I have loved Carol of the Bells since junior high school when I learned it the school chorus many years ago (mumble, mumble). It’s lovely when sung in parts and the “ding dong ding … dong” just slowly fades at the end. Thank you AL for both videos.

    ETA: I love the beads the women are wearing in the second video — huge and bold.

  7. 7.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    Joe of the Morning is still outraged by the sailors that were captured by the Iranians.

  10. 10.

    Kay

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    “How many people will lose their jobs as a result of increasing the minimum wage?” “How much economic growth and investment will your tax cut plan spur?” “Death taxes- good idea?”

  15. 15.

    Baud

    I can’t believe I didn’t win the lottery. I was planning on the influx of cash to finance my late campaign surge in Iowa, or in the alternative, to move out of this crazy country.

    I blame Obama.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    Residents of Flint, Michigan, already reeling because of lead contamination in their drinking water, got more disturbing news on Wednesday.
    Gov. Rick Snyder announced the number of cases of Legionnaires’ disease has spiked in Genesee County in the two years since Flint switched its water supply from the Great Lakes to the Flint River.
    But the increase cannot be directly attributed to the switch, said Nick Lyon, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Not all the people who got Legionnaires’ were exposed to Flint water, he said.

    I don’t know that anyone in state government has any credibility on that water at this point- they should just hire an outside expert and let that person address the disease outbreak. No one will believe anything they say after they covered up the lead crisis.

  19. 19.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Kay: To add insult to injury, the city of Flint is now sending out overdue notices to people who haven’t paid their water bills. What are they going to do, turn the water back on?

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mustang Bobby: What we need is a President who from Day 1 will be tuff enuf to deal with these international hooligans like that great patriot:

    The crew of the EP-3 was released on April 11, 2001, and returned to their base at Whidbey Island via Honolulu, Hawaii, where they were subject to two days of intense debriefings, followed by a heroes’ welcome.[19] The pilot, Lt. Shane Osborn, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for “heroism and extraordinary achievement” in flight. The J-8 pilot, Lt. Cdr. Wang Wei, was posthumously honored in China as a “Guardian of Territorial Airspace and Waters”.[19] His widow received a personal letter of condolence from President George W. Bush.[32]

    U.S. Navy engineers said the EP-3 could be repaired in 8–12 months,[33] but China refused to allow it to be flown off Hainan island. The disassembled aircraft was released on July 3, 2001, and was returned to the United States by the Russian airline Polet in an Antonov An-124.[34]

    In addition to paying for the dismantling and shipping of the EP-3, the United States paid for the 11 days of food and lodging supplied by the Chinese government to the aircraft’s crew, in the amount of $34,000.

    That’s some Texas swagger for you.

  22. 22.

    PurpleGirl

    @Mustang Bobby: What I thought was absurd was the City was going give everyone a Britta water filter when Britta filters do not filter out lead. So, there would still be lead in the damn water. And of course people would be stuck having buy the damn filters. The MI government is really showing us what happens when Republicans rule.

    ETA: Anything to avoid raising taxes on the rich and spreading the money in the state. Goddess, if only it were the rich who experienced the problems of less government. Their children should be experiencing the neurological damage from lead. (Not that I usually wish ill on others, but…)

  27. 27.

    Baud

    @PurpleGirl:

    I can see Jindal and Haley using a western name because their Indian names are hard for Americans to pronounce. Unless “Ted” was a childhood nickname, I don’t know why Cruz uses it.

  29. 29.

    David "Rafael" Koch

    @Baud: I can see how Haley uses Nikki for Nimrata. But there’s no possible derivation for Bobby from Piyush. I can understand if he went by Pete, like how Pierre du Pont went with Pete, but Bobby – no way. At least Romney’s middle name was actually Mitt.

  31. 31.

    Mustang Bobby

    His full name is Rafael Edward Cruz, and since his father goes by Rafael, he went with a nickname for his middle name. It’s a common practice; my brother and my cousin use nickname versions of their middle names.

    And Amir Khalid beat me to it. :)

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @ David Koch #29

    For some reason, your reply button is broken. The others work.

    I don’t know where “Bobby” came from. Or “Ted” for that matter.

    ETA: I see we have an answer for Ted.

  37. 37.

    David "Rafael" Koch

    @amk: I think he’ll stay away from that cuz his real name isn’t Trump. He actual last name Drumpf

    The name of Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich Drumpf, was anglicized to Frederick Trump

  38. 38.

    PurpleGirl

    I’m cranky this morning. I had my TV on but it turned itself off and I can’t get it to turn on again. It’s a Samsung “Smart” TV and I have Time Warner Cable. Also the cable remote won’t hold the setting to turn on the TV. It’s annoying and frustrating. The devices are absurd.

    ETA: Or am I just old?

  39. 39.

    Sherparick

    @Baud: Bought gas at COSTCO last night at $1.5499 a gallon. Went to the BLS inflation calculator website to see what that was in 1973 dollars (before Arab oil embargo). It is $0.29 cents in 1973 dollars, which I actually think was cheaper than the pre-embargo price that summer. Thanks Obama.

    P.S. I am old.

  40. 40.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud: Jindal said he chose the name Bobby after (I couldn’t have made this up) his favourite character on The Brady Bunch. I suppose we should be glad he doesn’t go by Oliver Jindal.

  41. 41.

    David "Rafael" Koch

    @Mustang Bobby: I know he says that, but that’s just not believable. Plus, he has lied so many time, like any republican running for president, you have to view anything he says with high degree of skepticism.

  43. 43.

    Mustang Bobby

    @Sherparick: It’s still hovering around $1.99 at the local Marathon down the street from me in south suburban Miami (and gets more expensive the closer you get to downtown). But that’s a lot better than the $4.15 a gallon I was paying in the summer of 2008.

  45. 45.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Hmph… all of a sudden the reply button doesn’t work.

    As to Piyush Jindal’s American name Bobby, of course he has an American name. Remember being a sophomore in an American high school? Bad enough getting straight “A”s and being darkly complected in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but having the handle of “Piyush” too?

    He would’ve been getting his ass kicked every day.

  47. 47.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: I once worked in a building where the internal company code for the building was ALF. You might know the building from LA Law.

  48. 48.

    David "Rafael" Koch

    @amk: speaking of birther – O’Donnell had a law professor on last night who made a very persuasive case that Cruz is ineligible because the common-law definition of “natural born” is completely different from the american statutory definition of “naturalized”.

    I guess Alan Grayson was right, all along.

  49. 49.

    PurpleGirl

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    He would’ve been getting his ass kicked every day.

    It could have taught him to be strong, to take the buyying and like. Make him pull himself up by his bootstraps, if you know what I mean. Build his character, impart empathy for the underdog instead of being a Rethuglican.

  51. 51.

    Mustang Bobby

    @PurpleGirl: We had a Republican nominee in 1936 named Alf Landon from Independence, Kansas. His home there is now a museum. He got his head handed to him by FDR, but his legacy lived on; his daughter Nancy Landon Kassebaum, became a U.S. Senator — a moderate Republican — and served a couple of terms. But that was about as close as we got.

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @PurpleGirl: Personally, I sympathize with the 15 year old Piyush who is just trying to fit in, or at least not attract any undue attention to himself. Just like every other 15 yr old in HS.

  54. 54.

    David "Rafael" Koch

    @OzarkHillbilly: yeah, I realize why he wanted a nickname. But Bobby is completely disconnected from Piyush. I mean, he might as well named himself Marcia Brady. I’m just not buying his story.

  56. 56.

    PurpleGirl

    @Mustang Bobby: Is he the one the newspapers declared the winner and then in the morning it turned out that FDR had won? Maybe a space alien puppet would be better at this junction than any human would be. The mind reals at the choices the Rethuglicans are putting forward as leaders. Yeah, a space alien puppet would be better.

    ETA: Time for me to make some coffee.

  58. 58.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I sympathize with the 15 year old Piyush who is just trying to fit in, or at least not attract any undue attention to himself.

    I sympathize with myself today for those same reasons.

  59. 59.

    Gin & Tonic

    @PurpleGirl: But the choir in the second video is singing in Russian, guaranteed to give offense to Ukrainians (Leontovich, the composer of “Shchedryk” is a Ukrainian hero and martyr, having been assassinated by a Soviet agent in 1921.) At least the Lithuanian choir sings the song in Ukrainian, but it would have been more respectful for AL to post a Ukrainian choir singing it.

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    David Koch (still can’t reply to you), in China kids pick their English names, doesn’t have any connection what so ever to their Chinese names, it is just an acknowledgement that the world does business in English, so they pick the name they like. If Jindal says he picked it because he liked Bobby from the Brady Bunch, that is just dorky enough to be embarrassing, so my default is in all likelihood it’s true.

    Of course, dork that he is, he probably doesn’t know it’s embarrassing.

  64. 64.

    Amir Khalid

    @David “Rafael” Koch:

    I mean, he might as well named himself Marcia Brady.

    Somehow, I don’t think America is ready yet for a transgendered POTUS.

    (Why do you have a dead reply button at comment #54?)

  73. 73.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @OzarkHillbilly: I was happy to leave high school and loved college, though the first year was a bit on the rocky side.

    ETA: I was pre-med, and it didn’t work out. Changed my major and college was great.

  76. 76.

    David "Rafael" Koch

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m just going by my own life experience. On the first day of school ever teacher would read out the roll-call and about half the class would use a nick name. But there was always a common connection. So Lauren would say, “here! I go by Lori” and James would say, “present! I go by Jimmy” and Markos would say, “hi – I go by Mark”, so on. No one ever said, “hi, my name is Bomani, but I use the name Greg”.

    just sayin

  77. 77.

    gene108

    I can see Jindal and Haley using a western name because their Indian names are hard for Americans to pronounce. Unless “Ted” was a childhood nickname, I don’t know why Cruz uses it.

    Plenty of Indians, even in India, have short forms for their name. Some are obvious like a Ramachandran going by Ram, but it’s not uncommon in India to shorten up a name for daily use.

    There are Krishnamoorthy’s who go by Kichu or Vishwanathan’s who go by Vichu.

    Weirder things have happened than Nimrata “Nikki” Haley having a nickname.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    My husband is at a conference for election process people. They have a social event at the beginning and he spoke with Strickland and Brunner. He thinks Brunner will run for governor. She didn’t say that! He just thinks that was her secret, coded message :)

    He said Strickland was really confident and upbeat about his chances in the Senate race, so that’s nice.

  87. 87.

    Amir Khalid

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Rest in peace, Severus Snape. You were far and away the most fascinating character in Harry Potter, and it took no less than Alan Rickman to do you justice.

  94. 94.

    Mustang Bobby

    And we lost Brian Bedford yesterday. He was Robin Hood in the Disney version in 1973, but he was also at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada for 29 seasons. I saw him there in everything from Richard III to Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. My tribute here. Cancer again.

  95. 95.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @BillinGlendaleCA: I don’t know that anything helps at 15. I look at crowds of them now and think how beautiful they all are, and almost none of them knows it.

    @Baud:

    I’m running to be America’s first virtual president

    I misread this to be first virulent president.

  96. 96.

    bemused

    @Kay:

    The emergency manager of Flint, Darnell Earley, who “managed” the water source transition at the time is now emergency manager of Detroit public schools.

  98. 98.

    Baud

    @Iowa Old Lady: I shall be the virus that infects the body of the conservative movement and causes them many rashes and nasal congestion.

    Are we ready to win Iowa, IOL?

  99. 99.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Ha! In that case, surviving HS is a piece of cake, it’s surviving everything else that’s the problem.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @bemused:

    The emergency manager of Flint, Darnell Earley, who “managed” the water source transition at the time is now emergency manager of Detroit public schools.

    I saw that. I think he resigns. This is just getting worse and worse for Snyder. I went to the state of Michigan website where they are tracking the lead contamination and (of course) every public school in Flint is listed. They’re not all exposed but they of course tested and a lot of them had high levels. It’s just appalling.

    They’ve already lost any credibility on public health they had. Media are verifying everything they say with the Virginia Tech researcher who did the lead levels work. If Snyder is smart he’ll dump that guy.

  101. 101.

    Randy P

    Every moment Rickman is on screen in Galaxy Quest is funny with this wonderful deadpan humor. From the opening moments, “By Grapthar’s Hammer… what… a savings” or “I played Richard the Third!!” to the way he runs at the alien when he finally says the “avenged” line seriously. I can’t think of a moment that doesn’t make me chuckle.

    I’m going to have to go back and watch Die Hard now.

    I’ve got a feeling there’s going to be a run on Rickman at Netflix.

  102. 102.

    Randy P

    @Baud: From the obit OzarkHillbilly linked, it sounds like he had quite an extensive and illustrious stage career too.

  105. 105.

    max

    Dear Famous People I Like,

    Please stop dropping dead for a month or two. Thank you.

    Sincerely,
    max
    [‘Really, it’s too goddamn cold for this shit.’]

  107. 107.

    Cermet

    @amk: Damn – a true artist and lost to the movie, theater and all of us. He was not just a truly great actor but a human who cared about others.

  109. 109.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mustang Bobby:

    Lindsay Duncan memorably said of her co-star’s sonorous performance that audiences would leave the theatre wanting to have sex “and preferably with Alan Rickman”.

  111. 111.

    MattF

    In case youse peasants weren’t watching, it looks like Sen. Cruz got some help in his Senate campaign from Goldman Sachs. Not illegal, except in the ‘Why didn’t he tell anyone about it?’ sense.

  112. 112.

    MomSense

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Has Joe of the Morning expressed any outrage about the children who were poisoned? It seems to me like the guys who veered off into Iranian waters are just fine. The poor people of Flint are going to suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives.

  113. 113.

    Randy P

    @max: If the Famous People I liked when they were baby-faced youngsters could stop looking old and creaky, that would be good too. Bill Murray. Billy Crystal. Paul McCartney. Etc.

  114. 114.

    Jeannet

    @PurpleGirl: re. water filters in Flint: the Brita filters that mount on the faucet DO filter out 99% or better of the lead in water. The pour through filters do not.

  116. 116.

    Mustang Bobby

    Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Pat Robertson, and a host of others still suck the oxygen out of the air. To quote Mark Twain, “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I did send a note of approval.”

  117. 117.

    PurpleGirl

    Looking at IMDB for the films of Alan Rickman and Brian Blessed turned up this tidbit — both were in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. (Note: I would not recommend that movie to anyone except if they wanted to see particular performance, such as Rickman’s or Blessed’s.)

  118. 118.

    rikyrah

    RIP

    Alan Rickman, British Film Icon, Dies at 69
    MOVIES | By Joe Otterson on January 14, 2016 @ 5:03 am

    “Harry Potter” and “Die Hard” star suffered from cancer, family says
    Alan Rickman, a British film and theater veteran, died on Thursday. He was 69.
    Rickman’s family confirmed the news in a statement. It read, “The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69. He was surrounded by family and friends,” per the BBC.
    Born in 1946, Rickman went to college to study graphic design, but decided after several years in that profession to pursue acting. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, and after graduation found work in various theater companies throughout the UK.

  120. 120.

    ThresherK

    @rikyrah:

    By Grabthar’s hammer, by the suns of Worvan, you shall be avenged!

    @Randy P: Beat me to it. I loved how his (fake) alien skin started peeling off his head and he had to just ShowMustGoOn it.

  123. 123.

    bemused

    @Kay:

    My comment didn’t appear but Michigan public radio has a series on Flint water I just started reading. It makes me ill. Many, many people should be prosecuted.

  125. 125.

    NotMax

    @ThresherK

    Those who liked Galaxy Quest might seek out a TV movie/pilot based on a very similar premise which preceded it by some years.

    The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space was made by the same production team responsible for both Hercules and Xena.

    The budgetary limitations are plentifully apparent and there’s more cheesiness dished up than in the state of Wisconsin, but it has its own deliberate B-movie brio. Nichelle Nichols and Ron Perlman each have a grand time chewing the scenery.

    Grab a big bowl of popcorn, put the frontal lobes into neutral and go with the flow.

  126. 126.

    ThresherK

    @NotMax: Hmm. I may try that. Galaxy Quest had that certain something, like Mystery Men, or “Forbidden Broadway”, coming from people who both pay homage and can slice up a genre with equal skill.

    PS On a library hunt for Space Station 76, along the same lines.

  127. 127.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @PurpleGirl:

    Brian Blessed and Brian Bedford are not the same person. It’s Bedford who has died — to my great heartbreak. I fell in love with him years ago in the movie Grand Prix, and saw him at Stratford as the Melancholy Jacques in As You Like It opposite Maggie Smith. (Blessed is still alive.)

    Don’t think Rickman ever played the Stratford Festival, but they have had a double loss this week with Bedford yesterday, and the wonderful William Needles (“Billy Noodles”) the day before. He was probably much better known to Canadians than Americans, but I’m feeling whammed from this week of losses, and pretty sure I’m not the only one.

  130. 130.

    PurpleGirl

    @SiubhanDuinne: If you read the whole thread you may have seen I’m having a bad morning, even after having coffee. Maybe I should just go back to sleep for a few more hours and start the day over. (Although that won’t change world events. The actors we’ve lost will still be lost.)

    eta: I did finally get the TV to turn on.

    eta 2: Thinking it over, I always got those two actors mixed up. My bad.

  131. 131.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I love that movie unreasonably. Saw it with my husband in the theatre and was blown away. Every once in a while I haul out the DVD and watch it again. Such a great cast.

  132. 132.

    Brachiator

    So sad to hear about Alan Rickman this morning. Many great performances, and he even gave the Harry Potter films an air of soulfulness.

  136. 136.

    rikyrah

    from VSB:

    EXACTLY HOW BLACK WAS PRESIDENT OBAMA’S FINAL STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS?

    Damon Young, 1/13/16

    Last night, President Barack Obama began the farewell tour of his presidency with his final State of the Union address. It’s already been established that he’s shrouded in a cloak of no fucks; his fuck-drained cape flapping in the wind as he breezes past for one final lap. And, by virtue of being the first — and probably the last for a while — Black president, everything he does at this point is demonstratively and unambiguously Black by default. The only question is the degree of Blackness.

    Which brings us back to the State of the Union address. We know it was Black, but exactly how Black was it? On the Blackness scale from one (Rachel Dolezal) to 10 (Marcus Garvey), where did it rate? Let’s see!

    It started late: The first Black president starting his last State of the Union on CPT is good for 3.5 Black points.

    When he walked in and greeted everyone, I couldn’t help but think of the Key and Peele code switch meet and greet skit: Although President Obama didn’t actually do it, the mere possibility of him doing it — and how tickled that possibility made me — is good for 2.5 Black points.

  137. 137.

    gelfling545

    @OzarkHillbilly: The Vietnamese dental student who did my dental work last year picked the name of Phoebe when her parents brought her here & said a lot of kids do that to fit in. Also her actual Vietnamese name sounded like something rather rude in English.
    (She’s going to be an amazing dentist. When my crown arrived from the lab she took it reverently out of the container & said “Look! It’s like JEWELRY!”)

  138. 138.

    Linnaeus

    @Kay:

    If Snyder is smart he’ll dump that guy.

    I would be surprised if Snyder dumped Earley openly. Earley might be persuaded to, as you say, resign. Snyder’s too heavily invested in the emergency manager model to be willing to admit any failure of it, and the legislature certainly won’t do anything about it.

  141. 141.

    schrodinger's cat

    Makar sankranti or Sankrant is celebrated in Maharashtra by exchanging til and gul (sesame and unrefined lumps of brown sugar) usually in the form of til laddoos, (which are absolutely delicious) with friends and relatives. people also celebrate the mild and pleasant weather by flying kites.
    In Tamil Nadu its celebrated as a harvest festival called Pongal. In Punjab it is celebrated as Lohri and so on.

  143. 143.

    rikyrah

    KNEEGROW, PLEASE

    He wanted the President of the United States to coon on national tv.

    PHUCK.OUTTA.HERE.

    Morning Joe 1/14/16
    ‘I wanted him to be bolder,’ says writer on Obama
    Author Eddie Glaude Jr. joins Morning Joe to discuss ‘Democracy in Black,’ his new book which looks at, in part, how President Obama has failed black America. The National Urban League’s Marc Morial also joins the discussion

  144. 144.

    dr. luba

    @Gin & Tonic: Unless the link has changed since you posted, the Kuban chorus is singing in Ukrainian. It is a different shchedrivka from the one Leontovych arranged for choir and orchestra.

    There are hundreds of different shchedrivky; interestingly, until the 1700s, the New Year was celebrated in spring, thus the themes of birds returning home and fertility in the songs.

    The best modern version of Leontovych’s Shchedryk is Oleh Skyrka’s, set in modern Kyiv: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPDnjq9fTLw

  145. 145.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    As to Piyush Jindal’s American name Bobby, of course he has an American name.

    I don’t know that this is a big deal. Almost all the Chinese American programmers I worked with at one company had English names. Sometimes the English names were phonetically related to their Chinese names. Sometimes the English name seemed to be an official nick name, other times it was one of their legal names.

  146. 146.

    mak

    @OzarkHillbilly: Some Hong Kong Chinese I knew while living over there picked some doozies for their adopted English names. E.g., “Lancelot Chung” or “Phoenix Wang.”

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